paragraph

noun

1. a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line.
2. a paragraph mark.
3. a note, item, or brief article, as in a newspaper.

verb (used with object)

4. to divide into paragraphs.
5. to write or publish paragraphs about, as in a newspaper.
6. to express in a paragraph.

noun

1. (in a piece of writing) one of a series of subsections each usually devoted to one idea and each usually marked by the beginning of a new line, indentation, increased interlinear space, etc
2. printing the character ¶, used as a reference mark or to indicate the beginning of a new paragraph
3. a short article in a newspaper

verb (tr)

4. to form into paragraphs
5. to express or report in a paragraph

n.late 15c., from Middle French paragraphe “division of text” (13c., Old French paragrafe), from Medieval Latin paragraphus “sign for start of a new section of discourse” (the sign looked something like a stylized letter -P-), from Greek paragraphos “short stroke in the margin marking a break in sense,” also “a passage so marked,” literally “anything written beside,” from paragraphein “write by the side,” from para- “beside” (see para- (1)) + graphein “to write” (see -graphy). A basic unit of prose. It is usually composed of several sentences that together develop one central idea. The main sentence in a paragraph is called the topic sentence.