pipeline

American  

[pahyp-lahyn] / ˈpaɪpˌlaɪn /

noun

• pipelines
  plural

1. a long tubular conduit or series of pipes, often underground, with pumps and valves for flow control, used to transport crude oil, natural gas, water, etc., especially over great distances.

2. a route, channel, or process along which something passes or is provided at a steady rate; means, system, or flow of supply or supplies.

   Freighters and cargo planes are a pipeline for overseas goods.

3. a channel of information, especially one that is direct, privileged, or confidential; inside source; reliable contact.

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verb (used with object)

• pipelines,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pipelined,
  past participle,  past
• pipelining
  present participle

1. to convey by or as if by pipeline.

   to pipeline oil from the far north to ice-free ports; to pipeline graduates into the top jobs.

idioms

1. in the pipeline,

   1. Informal. in the process of being developed, provided, or completed; in the works; under way.

   2. Government Informal. (of funds) authorized but not spent.

pipeline British  

/ ˈpaɪpˌlaɪn /

noun

1. a long pipe, esp underground, used to transport oil, natural gas, etc, over long distances

2. a medium of communication, esp a private one

3. in the process of being completed, delivered, or produced

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verb

1. to convey by pipeline

2. to supply with a pipeline

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pipelines
  plural

Participles

• pipelining
  present
• pipelined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pipeline
  simple
• pipelines
  simple
• have pipelined
  perfect
• has pipelined
  perfect
• am pipelining
  progressive
• are pipelining
  progressive
• is pipelining
  progressive
• have been pipelining
  perfect progressive
• has been pipelining
  perfect progressive

Past

• pipelined
  simple
• had pipelined
  perfect
• was pipelining
  progressive
• were pipelining
  progressive
• had been pipelining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pipeline
  simple
• will have pipelined
  perfect
• will be pipelining
  progressive
• will have been pipelining
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pipeline

First recorded in 1855–60; pipe ¹ + line ¹

Explanation

A pipeline is a series of pipes that liquid or gas flows through. A pipeline can also be a channel for other things, even ideas. The Internet is an information pipeline. No digging required! While oil and natural gas often go through a pipeline, other substances are also transported this way, including water used for irrigation and even, in some cases, beer. You can use pipeline when you talk about other quick-moving things, like a source of goods, or even spoken communication. You could call the big companies in your city a kind of “job pipeline.” If you have an idea for a community pool in the pipeline, go ahead and hire the lifeguards!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pipeline pipelines pipelined pipelining

The Southern Utes told the GAO in 2014 that the BIA sat on 81 pipeline right-of-way applications for five to eight years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Some companies post less-than-real ads to build a pipeline for jobs that might open up someday or in case they reel in a dream candidate too good to pass up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Chester Zoo's chief executive has said plans to build an underground pipeline that will cut through wildlife and habitats on the site are "unacceptable".

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The monetization of its excess gas and a land sales pipeline could also contribute to its earnings, the analyst adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

This photograph shows members of many tribes who gathered at Standing Rock in North Dakota in an effort to stop a pipeline that threatened an essential water source.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Pipeline developers are piecing together an alternative to Keystone XL using a trio of proposed pipelines to deliver heavy Canadian crude.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

A Ukrainian man has been arrested in Croatia on suspicion of taking part in the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Helming says he has fielded interest from companies that want to use his tunnel boring machine for power and fibre optic cables, or pipelines that could transport water, natural gas, or ammonia, for example.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

But the state’s dream of a vast network of green fuel production sites and pipelines serving thousands of hydrogen-powered vehicles across California is a harder sell.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

For instance, during the War, after the pipelines were blown up, he and his classmates had ferried water up to the girls’ dorm, each leaving his bucket at the door of a particular resident.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

It could be pipelined to Murmansk, liquefied and shipped to the U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

The glass-bottom boats that take tourists out to marvel at the Gulf of Aqaba's coral formations rock in the swells of supertankers bringing Persian Gulf oil into Eilat to be. pipelined to the Mediterranean.

From Time Magazine Archive

Blackford Oakes, Yale '51, is pipelined by the old-boy network straight into the CIA.

From Time Magazine Archive

On a pipelined machine, this can take a while. :stale pointer bug: /n./

From The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0, 24 Jul 1996 by Eric S. Raymond

On a pipelined machine, this can take a while.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Guy L. Steele

“We’re pipelining our deployment playbook across several cities simultaneously now.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 31, 2023

Related Words

• agenda
• almanac
• card
• chronology
• diary
• docket
• journal
• lineup
• list
• program
• table
• timetable