baseline

[ beys-lahyn ]

/ ˈbeɪsˌlaɪn /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR baseline ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Also base line.

Baseball. the area between bases within which a base runner must keep when running from one base to another.

Tennis. the line at each end of a tennis court, parallel to the net, that marks the in-bounds limit of play.

(in perspective drawing) a horizontal line in the immediate foreground formed by the intersection of the ground plane and the picture plane.

a basic standard or level; guideline: to establish a baseline for future studies.

a specific value or values that can serve as a comparison or control.

Typography. the imaginary line on which the bottoms of primary letters align.

Surveying. See under triangulation(def 1).

Electronics. a horizontal or vertical line formed on the face of a cathode-ray tube by the sweep of the scanning dot.

Naval Architecture. a line on the body plan or sheer plan of a hull, representing a horizontal reference plane for vertical dimensions.

adjective

basic or essential.

Words nearby baseline

basehearted, basel, basel-land, basel-stadt, baseless, baseline, baseliner, baseman, basement, basement complex, basement membrane

Origin of baseline

First recorded in 1740–50; base¹ + line¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for baseline

“There is a baseline agreement when it comes to campus rape: the current system is failing these students,” she added.
Feminism Has Gone Too Far|Lizzie Crocker|November 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A system to ensure that providers have a baseline competency in the areas where they choose to practice makes sense to me.
Rand Paul and the Certification Racket|Russell Saunders|August 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We can aim at an economy that makes dignity and security a baseline and lets people cut their paths from there.
We Need More Class Traitors: Solving America’s Meritocracy Problem|Jedediah Purdy|April 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Women have learned to operate with a baseline level of fear, one that dips or peaks depending on our surroundings.
Apps and Online Programs Offer New Ways to Report Street Harassment|Tessa Miller|April 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The baseline question, as it so often is in politics these days, is about emotional resistance.
Health Care's Resistors and Adapters|Michael Tomasky|March 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Anyway, he knocked it straight down the third baseline and fooled the Journals rivals, for their fielders were not on duty.
Joan of the Journal|Helen Diehl Olds
The crescent rests on a baseline formed by the slowly-proceeding line of women, children, and baggage-horses.
At Home with the Patagonians|George Chaworth Musters
Meanwhile his baseline had been extended twenty miles to the westto near Noyon.
New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, No. 1, July 1918|Various
On the 17th a baseline was laid down on the plateau, and Blake was able to commence his survey of the island.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
With two tracers, separated on a baseline of a few million kilometers, we can plot position closely.
Evil Out of Onzar|Mark Ganes

British Dictionary definitions for baseline

baseline

/ (ˈbeɪsˌlaɪn) /

noun

surveying a measured line through a survey area from which triangulations are made

an imaginary line, standard of value, etc, by which things are measured or compared

a line at each end of a tennis court that marks the limit of play

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

baseline

noun Also base line.

adjective

Content related to baseline

Words related to baseline

Words nearby baseline

Origin of baseline

Examples from the Web for baseline

British Dictionary definitions for baseline

noun