outline
Americannoun
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outlines
plural
-
the line by which a figure or object is defined or bounded; contour.
-
a drawing or sketch restricted to line without shading or modeling of form.
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a general sketch, account, or report, indicating only the main features, as of a book, subject, or project.
an outline of medieval history; an outline of a speech.
-
outlines, the essential features or main aspects of something under discussion.
At the first meeting, we gave her only the outlines of the project.
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Printing. an ornamented type in which the outside contours of each character appear in black, with the inside left white.
verb (used with object)
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outlines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
outlined,
past participle, past
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outlining
present participle
noun
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a preliminary or schematic plan, draft, account, etc
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(usually plural) the important features of an argument, theory, work, etc
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the line by which an object or figure is or appears to be bounded
-
-
a drawing or manner of drawing consisting only of external lines
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( as modifier )
an outline map
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verb
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to draw or display the outline of
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to give the main features or general idea of
Synonym Usage
See form.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outlinesimple
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outlinessimple
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have outlinedperfect
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has outlinedperfect
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am outliningprogressive
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are outliningprogressive
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is outliningprogressive
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have been outliningperfect progressive
-
has been outliningperfect progressive
Past
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outlinedsimple
-
had outlinedperfect
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was outliningprogressive
-
were outliningprogressive
-
had been outliningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outline
Explanation
The gist, the essence, the major parts of something — that's its outline. The origins of outline come from the artistic practice of marking a line around the outer edge of a person or shape in a picture before filling it in. Only later, in the 1800s, did it come to be applied to verbal descriptions, too. Technically an outline suggests a condensed form of something, but as any high school or college student knows, course outlines have a habit of being pretty darn long. In 1919 H.G. Wells wrote a book called An Outline of History. Its length? 1,324 pages.
Vocabulary lists containing outline
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Expository Writing, List 2
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Writing - Middle School
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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:
The latest clinical practice guidelines from the American Heart Association outline several steps intended to improve measurement accuracy.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Ahead of the Bangkok talks, Cordano released an "aid to negotiations" -- a non-binding outline of a possible treaty, with brackets around the most contentious sections.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
I could outline in detail why every moment of the record happens when it does.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
We now have the first outline about how he hopes to do that.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
She laid a hand on her purse and felt the familiar outline of the Hixby’s Guide within.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
The nonprofit Stand Up for Stand Up posted a detailed breakdown of the data that outlines a 66% shrinkage in the SiriusXM Raw channel roster.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Richard Hasen, professor of law at UCLA, outlines five levers the president could pull and how states, courts, and the people could respond.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Further, while our report outlines deficiencies in the management of the renovation project . . . we did not identify administrative misconduct during our evaluation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Microsoft stock rises after the tech company outlines new features for CoPilot, its AI assistant.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
With the perspective frame, he feels confident making a drawing with a firm hand, the outlines and proportions being correct.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
It is one of 16 points outlined where they had sought to make progress, including on market access for medical devices and export controls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The move had been widely anticipated and reverses his insistence he would not seek re-election, which the Slovenian initially outlined in February 2024.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Genna Contino outlined strategies to weigh rewards and risks in the bond market at today’s higher yields.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Both are outlined in black on an off-white background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
One had a big red flag with a thick blue cross outlined by white.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
On Monday, hundreds of professional stand-up comedians flooded Instagram and TikTok with front-facing videos outlining an issue in the comedy community that had been brewing for months.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
"The defendant will plead guilty because the defendant is in fact guilty of the charged offense," prosecutors stated in a court filing outlining the plea deal.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
They also signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding outlining a planned agreement to conduct clinical trials combining ivonescimab with several of AstraZeneca’s cancer medicines in a range of clinical trials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Anthropic released its latest risk report in August, outlining risks with superintelligence, or the point when AI models can intellectually outperform humans across several domains.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
Recently I received in the mail a handwritten pamphlet outlining the spread of HIV by the FBI.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
