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• chart
  chart

  noun

  a sheet exhibiting information in tabular form.
• chart.
  chart.

  abbreviation

  (in prescriptions) a paper.

chart

¹ American  

[chahrt] / tʃɑrt /

noun

• charts
  plural

1. a sheet exhibiting information in tabular form.

2. a graphic representation, as by curves, of a dependent variable, as temperature, price, etc.; graph.

3. a map, especially a hydrographic or marine map.

4. an outline map showing special conditions or facts.

   a weather chart.

5. Astrology. horoscope.

6. Jazz. a musical arrangement.

7. the charts, ratings of the popularity of popular-music records, usually based on nationwide sales for a given week.

   Their album is number three on the charts this week.

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verb (used with object)

• charts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• charted,
  past participle,  past
• charting
  present participle

1. to make a chart of.

2. to plan.

   to chart a course of action.

   Synonyms:

   outline, draft

3. Informal. to rank in the charts.

   The new song gets charted number four this week.

idioms

1. off the charts, greatly exceeding the general level or average: Also off the chart

   Demand for the new phone is off the charts.

chart. ² American  

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) a paper.

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chart British  

/ tʃɑːt /

noun

1. a map designed to aid navigation by sea or air

2. an outline map, esp one on which weather information is plotted

3. a sheet giving graphical, tabular, or diagrammatical information

4. another name for graph

5. astrology another word for horoscope

6. informal the lists produced weekly from various sources of the bestselling pop singles and albums or the most popular videos

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verb

1. (tr) to make a chart of

2. (tr) to make a detailed plan of

3. (tr) to plot or outline the course of

4. (intr) (of a record or video) to appear in the charts (sense 6)

Synonym Usage

See map.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prechart
  verb (used with object)
• rechart
  verb (used with object)
• chartable
  adjective
• precharted
  adjective
• well-charted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• charts
  plural

Participles

• charting
  present
• charted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• chart
  simple
• charts
  simple
• have charted
  perfect
• has charted
  perfect
• am charting
  progressive
• are charting
  progressive
• is charting
  progressive
• have been charting
  perfect progressive
• has been charting
  perfect progressive

Past

• charted
  simple
• had charted
  perfect
• was charting
  progressive
• were charting
  progressive
• had been charting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will chart
  simple
• will have charted
  perfect
• will be charting
  progressive
• will have been charting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of chart¹

1565–75; from Middle French charte, from Latin c(h)arta; see charta

Origin of chart.²

From the Latin word charta

Explanation

Whether it's a kind of graph, a map, or even a piece of music, a chart is a visual display of information. As a verb, chart means to make that kind of display. Some words' meanings grow narrower over the centuries. But in the case of chart, which comes from the French charte and Latin charta, "map," the meanings have grown a lot since the 1500s. Now, chart is a noun meaning any visual index of information, as in "that song is shooting up the charts." It's also still a map, as in "harbor chart." And it's a verb, as in "to chart your progress, make a chart."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chart chart. charts charted charting

Somewhere between the ever-changing headlines and the price chart, the oil market lost its appetite for panic.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026

A mobile game made by a developer in Manchester has recently beaten the global phenomenon Minecraft to top Apple's paid games chart.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

The Kochs attempt to illustrate the latter point with a chart that tracks global average gross domestic product per capita, adjusted for inflation, over two millennia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Coach Jim Harbaugh said roughly 15 starters won’t play in the Chargers’ preseason opener against the Houston Texans, and there are several spots on the depth chart that still need to be decided.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

According to the chart Ms. Mac had left, it was her turn to take care of me, thank goodness.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

"When we wrote this song, in the blazing month of August, we didn't even expect it to chart. But here we are, in a Mariah Carey and Wham! sandwich, and we're the filling. I'm stoked!"

From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2023

“We’re accustomed to seeing those Disney films at the top of the chart. They kind of had to split the audience with ‘Trolls.’”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2023

Latona said, "Please stop calling what happened 'a demise' because it's upsetting her. And also stop asking her the same thing over and over. It's in the chart. Put it in the chart."

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2022

“She somehow neglected to get all the information in the chart. That’s tragic and I also have great compassion for her humanity.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2020

“I saw on your chart. Why do you think you couldn’t sleep?”

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

I have scattergrams — charts showing no reliable pattern — of every major valuation metric against one-year forward returns, and the dots are all over the map.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

She earned two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress, and 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

She achieved international fame that decade with the release of her "Total Eclipse" mega-hit, which topped the charts in the United States and Britain.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

Instead of analyzing static charts, modern datamaxxers simply text their bot over morning coffee to better understand a poor night’s sleep.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

They dealt only with experimental data and were filled with graphs, charts, tables, photographs of devices for the measuring of auditory, visual, and tactile responses, and with mathematical translations of laboratory findings.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

In the 1990s, he reached rock-star heights as a policymaker while the U.S. charted a long economic expansion following the end of the Cold War.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

McAfee, a third-generation California farmer, was born into a family that had charted an unconventional course.

From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026

This is momentum tracker that many use to first determine whether a charted instrument becomes overbought or oversold.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026

Looking at the fire map, I could see much of the path I charted was now seared.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

Since they had moved to Ravenel, Lillian had charted his moods like a cartographer, and her instinct for defusing his temper before it erupted told her this was a day for caution.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Irving will be going up against a bevy of other legal AI upstarts and the major AI developers themselves as well as established firms, each of which have been charting their own futures with AI.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

"Space Force, those guys are literally charting the next frontier of space," he says.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Teeming documents charting the rich subsoil of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo fill nearly 500 metres of shelving at the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, outside the Belgian capital.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Palantir’s stock is charting a comeback from its worst month in over five years.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

I’m charting my own course, and we’ll see where it leads me.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

Related Words

• delineate
• devise
• lay out
• outline
• sketch