tabloid

noun

1. a newspaper whose pages, usually five columns wide, are about one-half the size of a standard-sized newspaper page.
2. a newspaper this size concentrating on sensational and lurid news, usually heavily illustrated.
3. a short form or version; condensation; synopsis; summary.

adjective

4. compressed or condensed in or as if in a tabloid: a tabloid article; a tabloid account of the adventure.
5. luridly or vulgarly sensational.

noun

1. a newspaper with pages about 30 cm (12 inches) by 40 cm (16 inches), usually characterized by an emphasis on photographs and a concise and often sensational styleCompare broadsheet
2. (modifier) designed to appeal to a mass audience or readership; sensationalistthe tabloid press; tabloid television

n.1884, “small tablet of medicine,” trademark name (by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co.) for compressed or concentrated chemicals and drugs, formed from tablet + Greek-derived suffix -oid. By 1898, it was being used figuratively to mean a compressed form or dose of anything, hence tabloid journalism (1901), and newspapers that typified it (1918), so called for having short, condensed news articles and/or for being small in size.