blueprint
Americannoun
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blueprints
plural
verb (used with object)
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blueprints,
present (3rd person singular)
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blueprinted,
past participle, past
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blueprinting
present participle
noun
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Also called: cyanotype. a photographic print of plans, technical drawings, etc, consisting of white lines on a blue background
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an original plan or prototype that influences subsequent design or practice
the Montessori method was the blueprint for education in the 1940s
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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blueprintsimple
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blueprintssimple
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have blueprintedperfect
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has blueprintedperfect
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am blueprintingprogressive
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are blueprintingprogressive
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is blueprintingprogressive
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have been blueprintingperfect progressive
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has been blueprintingperfect progressive
Past
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blueprintedsimple
-
had blueprintedperfect
-
was blueprintingprogressive
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were blueprintingprogressive
-
had been blueprintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blueprint
Explanation
A blueprint is a guide for making something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. Want to build the best tree house ever? Draw up a blueprint and follow the design carefully. The literal meaning of a blueprint is a paper — which is blue — with plans for a building printed on it. You can also call other guides or plans blueprints. The way you do your homework every night could provide a blueprint for your little sister’s study habits. A business plan is a blueprint for a profitable business. Religions and philosophies provide the blueprint for many people’s lives. A blueprint helps you figure out what to do.
Vocabulary lists containing blueprint
The Ingenious Lexicon of Invention
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But as depressing as that may be, “The End of Oak Street” could very well be a blueprint for a fresh era in popcorn movies.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
DNA serves as the genetic blueprint for every living organism, but it is also an extraordinarily dense way to store information.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
“Having kind of done that — an inning here, an inning there and then you sort of build up during the season, absolutely,” said Roberts when asked if 2025 could serve as a blueprint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Australia, where one in three homes now has rooftop panels, offered a clear blueprint for the Philippines, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
In a few cases, we also know something about the individuals who designed writing systems by blueprint copying in the remote past.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Trump walked part of the property and inspected blueprints in view of reporters; he was then driven by the site where he wants to erect a marble arch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
Instead of manufacturing the processors themselves, Arm designs the blueprints and licenses its intellectual property to tech companies.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
Reports claim that some workers did not bring mandatory tracking devices into the mines, and blueprints provided by the Liushenyu coal mine to authorities did not match the conditions at the mine, complicating rescue efforts.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
The owners spent years restoring the Spanish Colonial Revival, using blueprints from the original owners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Is that why Mom rolled up the blueprints so quickly this morning?
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
The National Guard's Special Immediate Reaction Force blueprinted the operation for the assault on Sunday with both land and air maneuvers.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
“Marquee Moon” is both architectonic and disorienting, blueprinted and unpredictable.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
Many of the songs we do are blueprinted on both sides of the Atlantic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2022
It’s not merely the stratospheric box-office expectations, but also the need – under the cinematic-universe model blueprinted by Marvel – for each film to fit the aesthetic and actors into a larger whole.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 15, 2017
Presumably it was not thought out and blueprinted in advance but worked out by trial and error, episode by episode, step by step—perhaps, also, leap by leap.
From Civilization and Beyond Learning from History by Scott Nearing
Herschel called the technique cyanotyping, but it is better known today as blueprinting.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 29, 2021
For the coalition of local officials, businesses and nonprofits leading the way, the blueprinting of the city presents an intensely varied task.
From Forbes ● May 19, 2015
In the 1930s he deeply influenced today's theater design by blueprinting expandable stages and semicircular projection screens.
From Time Magazine Archive
They are blueprinting airplane factories and plush government offices.
From Time Magazine Archive
Boss Engineer Luke Hobbs was also blueprinting the designs for a different type.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
