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

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Etymology

Origin of pipeline

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

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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

Last month, the mayor’s office said more than 47,000 units of affordable housing are in the pipeline, but only 7,728 are under construction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

Weeks after returning home, the group's messages continue to flow, with future trips in the pipeline.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

The French drugmaker is moving to fill its medicine pipeline to prepare for the looming patent expiration of its bestselling product, Dupixent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

AstraZeneca aims to free up funds to reinvest into its pipeline and meet its goal of $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

A pipeline of vision went through the door crack, between two giant candles from Palermo and under an amber lampshade from Poland.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

The U.S. is backing a quick resumption of Russian natural-gas sales to Europe via pipelines running through Ukraine to secure an energy ceasefire.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

The Italian energy major on Monday signed contracts for subsea infrastructure and pipelines that will extract, treat and send gas to Egypt for liquefaction from its offshore Cyprus gas project.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

The war has had other major impacts on refineries, from damage to pipelines and other infrastructure to an overall slowdown in production ...

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

Much of Venezuela’s raw crude is so thick that it won’t flow through pipelines unless it is first blended with 20% or more of oil thinner products.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026

In this time, in this place, the world had gone mad with lush and green, throwing vines over old electrical poles and belching up rotten pipelines from the ground.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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. :stale pointer bug: n.

From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Eric S. Raymond

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

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 31, 2023

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