outline
Americannoun
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outlines
plural
-
the line by which a figure or object is defined or bounded; contour.
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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
-
has been outliningperfect progressive
Past
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outlinedsimple
-
had outlinedperfect
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was outliningprogressive
-
were outliningprogressive
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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:
It’s not worth digging much into the film’s story; whether you’ve seen the first movie or just have a general outline of it, you’ll be wholly unsurprised by everything that happens in its sequel.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Published in BioScience, the study brought together experts in tropical ecology from around the world to identify the main barriers to protecting insects and outline practical ways to overcome them.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
These legal contracts — signed before a couple gets married — outline how the pair will handle assets, debts and spousal support if they get divorced, or if one partner dies.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
Their call came just a week before EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was to outline how the bloc intends to better protect children online from dangerous content and addictive apps.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
His eyes were sad, like he felt sorry for Ophie, but his outline was too faint for her to pick out what color it might be.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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
The outlines of this scenario are already visible, and the risk is inflation is higher and more persistent than expected.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
It outlines a road map for how uranium might be enriched in the kingdom’s territory after further consultations, including at a level of nearly 20%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Nat went to the window and stared hard at the ships until the blurred outlines cleared and he could see masts and rigging.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
The plan outlined by Thrive identifies around $150 million in near-term incremental revenue by 2028.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The policy, formally outlined on Thursday, was also trailed in the EU chief's annual address on Wednesday.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Ofgem also outlined plans to raise the energy price cap again from October.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
On Saturday, Amodei outlined ways he hoped to slow the pace of AI development.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
He waited a couple of minutes for the sweat that outlined his body to evaporate before he carefully opened the door.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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
In a paragraph outlining the evaluation process and criteria, they wrote:
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
The city’s lawyers pointed to months of records outlining the data and testimony that the Rent Guidelines Board considered ahead of its vote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Last November, her legal team filed a three-page document outlining the arguments they plan to make in an effort to overturn her conviction.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
"You left your hat," he said, handing it to me along with the mimeographed sheets of instructions outlining the new program.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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.
