sketch

American  

[skech] / skɛtʃ /

noun

sketches plural

1. a simply or hastily executed drawing or painting, especially a preliminary one, giving the essential features without the details.

2. a rough design, plan, or draft, as of a book.

   Synonyms:

   outline

3. a brief or hasty outline of facts, occurrences, etc..

   a sketch of his life.

4. a short, usually descriptive, essay, history, or story.

5. a short play or slight dramatic performance, as one forming part of a vaudeville program.

   Synonyms:

   routine, act, skit

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verb (used with object)

sketches, present (3rd person singular) sketched, past participle, past sketching present participle

1. to make a sketch of.

   Synonyms:

   represent, delineate, design, outline, draw

2. to set forth in a brief or general account.

   He sketched his own part in the affair.

3. Metallurgy. (in a steel mill or the like) to mark (a piece) for cutting.

verb (used without object)

sketches, present (3rd person singular) sketched, past participle, past sketching present participle

1. to make a sketch or sketches.

sketch British  

/ skɛtʃ /

noun

1. a rapid drawing or painting, often a study for subsequent elaboration

2. a brief usually descriptive and informal essay or other literary composition

3. a short play, often comic, forming part of a revue

4. a short evocative piece of instrumental music, esp for piano

5. any brief outline

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verb

1. to make a rough drawing (of)

2. to make a brief description of

Usage

What is a basic definition of sketch? A sketch is a drawing or painting that is usually made quickly and lacks finer details. Sketch is also used to mean to create a sketch of something. A sketch can also be a short dramatic performance. Sketch has a few other senses as a verb and a noun. Most artists begin with a sketch, or many sketches, before they work on what will be the final product, such as an oil painting. For example, cartoonists will often make a sketch of a new character without colors, shading, or detailed lines so they can get feedback before putting in too much effort. A painter may draw a sketch of landscape with colored pencils so they can figure out the best colors and shades that would go well together.

• Real-life examples: Many artists would be happy to draw a sketch of something for you if you pay them the right price. Police will often create a sketch of a suspect based on a witness’s description of them. You can find many early sketches of famous characters like Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob SquarePants on the internet.
• Used in a sentence: The artist made several sketches of the model before beginning his work on the elaborate portrait. 

In this same sense, sketch is used as a verb to mean to draw a sketch of something.

• Used in a sentence: I sketched a cat in my notebook during the boring lecture. 

A sketch is also a short dramatic performance, especially one that is part of a comedy show. Comedic performances that consist solely of a collection of short, humorous stories are known as sketch comedy.

• Real-life examples: Saturday Night Live, The Kids in the Hall, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Sesame Street are television programs that all use sketches.
• Used in a sentence: Chris Farley was in most of my favorite sketches from Saturday Night Live.

Synonym Usage

See depict.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sketcher
  noun
• resketch
  verb (used with object)
• sketchable
  adjective
• sketchlike
  adjective
• unsketched
  adjective
• well-sketched
  adjective
• sketchingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sketches
  plural

Participles

• sketching
  present
• sketched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sketch
  simple
• sketches
  simple
• have sketched
  perfect
• has sketched
  perfect
• am sketching
  progressive
• are sketching
  progressive
• is sketching
  progressive
• have been sketching
  perfect progressive
• has been sketching
  perfect progressive

Past

• sketched
  simple
• had sketched
  perfect
• was sketching
  progressive
• were sketching
  progressive
• had been sketching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sketch
  simple
• will have sketched
  perfect
• will be sketching
  progressive
• will have been sketching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sketch

1660–70; < Dutch schets (noun) ≪ Italian schizzo < Latin schedium extemporaneous poem, noun use of neuter of schedius extempore < Greek schédios

Explanation

A sketch is a rough or brief outline of something. If you hand in a sketch, instead of your full paper, don't expect to get a very high grade! The word sketch can be used when talking about something visual, particularly a drawing. An artist might sketch a friend in an hour, and then go home and take weeks to complete the portrait. A sketch can also refer to a short verbal or narrative account. You might want to give your friend a brief sketch of what happened to you today, instead of boring her with every last detail, including the hours you spent washing and then folding your laundry.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sketch sketches sketched sketching

I don’t want to fat-shame anybody, but it reminds me a lot of the Monty Python Meaning of Life sketch where the guy says the weight for him blows up.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026

Now it’s cut three minutes from this sketch.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Following an electrifying opening performance from T.I., the evening’s host, comedian and internet sensation Druski, descended onto the stage suspended from the ceiling, a nod to his viral “flying pastor” sketch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Others that begin well and then fall over: Mr. David does a fairly dead-on impersonation of Joseph McCarthy, but the sketch has nowhere else to go and so turns frantic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

I needed to find a book that had a better picture of a great white to sketch than the headshot in Fred’s book.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

People used to say they could use the down weeks to get sketches in the can, but they don’t do that.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Mr. Spector sketches with subtlety the relationships that simmer beneath the surface of the chatty, sharp and—it must be admitted—sometimes exhaustingly digressive dialogue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Instead, Coffin sketches his idea of a Hollywood creep, the phony let’s-do-lunch schmoozer, with Jeff Bridges voicing a set of twin studio moguls who play bad boss/backhanded boss.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

In March, Kushner posts on Instagram about his intention to present "initial sketches for development projects for the Albanian coast", including projects on Sazan Island and the nearby Zvernec coast.

From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026

Early editions of Archimedes come with illustrations which show objects floating in a vast ocean of water, an ocean which stretches right around the globe, and Galileo drew such sketches in his own text.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Burnham's team say having sketched out his vision he will be able to continue to work out who he places in key roles in his cabinet.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

Director Craig Gillespie is no stranger to turbulent filmmaking, and his “Cruella” commendably made an underserved villain into a fully sketched character, without overrelying on callbacks.

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

The EFL says that it makes contingency plans for all of its matches at Wembley, so alternative arrangements had already been sketched out before Spygate emerged.

From BBC ● May 19, 2026

At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

There North described and sketched a two-cylinder atmospheric steam engine which he said he had seen ‘onely in modell’.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

In her song Wi$h Li$t, from her last album, Swift fantasised about settling down with Kelce, sketching out an idyllic future in which they have "a couple kids" and "a driveway with a basketball hoop".

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

In sketching an outlook that might include either further cuts or a pivot to hikes, Waller joins a growing group of Fed officials who see the central bank’s policy stance at an inflection point.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

In his own statement on Friday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari began sketching out conditions for the third.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

But the 41-year-old's womenswear collection in September didn't convince everyone, and some observers expect him to put a more decisive mark on Dior and cement the new identity he's begun sketching out.

From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026

Perhaps I would see him at the docks, sketching a ship or sea gulls.

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Words

• account
• blueprint
• cartoon
• chart
• copy
• depiction
• description
• illustration
• likeness
• painting
• picture
• piece
• portrayal
• summary
• version
• vignette