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.
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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)
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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
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-
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
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has been outliningperfect progressive
Past
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outlinedsimple
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had outlinedperfect
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was outliningprogressive
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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:
We now have the first outline about how he hopes to do that.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
But if you squint, you can see the outline of the type of stuff that always works.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
The company declined to outline its plans for Canada, which accounted for 4% of its $4.5 billion in revenue last year, but said it was committed to supporting the country’s dealers and riders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
The rebranding arrives one week before a highly anticipated capital markets day at which CEO Mike Doustdar is expected to outline the company’s strategy under his leadership.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
And he drew a quick sketch: the outline of a seal.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Microsoft stock rises after the tech company outlines new features for CoPilot, its AI assistant.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Many people know at least the outlines of the case given its gruesomeness.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
"That would indeed be surprising, and, in addition to other theories, it could point to the existence of a fifth force," as Soter outlines.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Carney will hold a speech in the European Parliament there on Thursday, a day after President von der Leyen outlines the EU's political and policy priorities.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
In my mind, I see ghost outlines, shimmering towers touching the clouds.
From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Shares of Boeing, which has staked its turnaround in part of MAX production growth, fell sharply Monday after a weekend Wall Street Journal article outlined the problem.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
The private nonprofit organization’s yearly reports haven’t outlined progress on roughly two dozen venues around Greater Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Michael Brush outlined three reasons oil executives expect their stocks to keep rising.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Trump, for his part, outlined some of the topics the leaders planned to discuss in their meetings, including "pressing issues concerning security, technology, and superintelligence" - using his preferred term for artificial intelligence.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
We helped Dadi up and moved farther away from the bushes toward a dirt road we could see dimly outlined in the moonlight.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
On Friday, a group of independent AI evaluation organizations called the AI Evaluator Forum published a public letter outlining a general framework for embedded evaluators.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
The bank sent a memo to staff in July outlining its expectations, which include that senior leaders work at least four days per week in the office.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
In a paragraph outlining the evaluation process and criteria, they wrote:
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Dr. Anca Askanase, who is working on the trial in which Bristol Myers noticed the adverse events, said she has received a letter from the company outlining details about the trial pause.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
It was freshly painted with borders of orchids and lilies and water hyacinths outlining each panel.
From "Rickshaw Girl" by Mitali Perkins
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.
