sketch

[ skech ]

/ skɛtʃ /

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See synonyms for: sketch / sketched / sketches on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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

a brief or hasty outline of facts, occurrences, etc.: a sketch of his life.

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

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

verb (used with object)

to make a sketch of.

to set forth in a brief or general account: He sketched his own part in the affair.

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

verb (used without object)

to make a sketch or sketches.

OTHER WORDS FOR sketch

2 outline.

5 skit, act, routine.

6 draw, outline, design, rough out, delineate, represent.

See synonyms for sketch on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of sketch

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

synonym study for sketch

6. See depict.

OTHER WORDS FROM sketch

sketcher, nounsketch·ing·ly, adverbsketchlike, adjectivere·sketch, verb (used with object)

un·sketched, adjectivewell-sketched, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use sketch in a sentence

Astronomers have spent centuries filling in their sketches of our corner of the Milky Way.
A guide to the solar system’s biggest secrets|Charlie Wood|January 5, 2021|Popular-Science
These sketches caught public attention in the early 20th century, as planes gave us a bird’s-eye view—the best way to take them in.
The famous Nazca lines aren’t mysterious—but they are ingenious|Sara Kiley Watson|January 3, 2021|Popular-Science
Xochi addresses the issue by labeling its bags and cartons with a sketch of the chef’s face.
Taqueria Xochi serves mouthwatering Mexican food from a tiny U Street storefront|Tom Sietsema|December 18, 2020|Washington Post
This process takes the data and summarizes it into a sketch.
The Computer Scientist Who Shrinks Big Data|Allison Whitten|December 7, 2020|Quanta Magazine

So, an IR photograph may be able to reveal an original sketch on a canvas underneath layers of paint in a work of art.
Fujifilm’s new infrared camera can see things your eyes can’t|Stan Horaczek|November 27, 2020|Popular-Science
“Please,” he laughed, handing me the map after he was finished sketching.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind|Brin-Jonathan Butler|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
However, on other issues, she still was sketching out her positions.
Meet Montana's Nose-Ringed Candidate for the U.S. Senate|Ben Jacobs|August 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The designer, who is often considered one of the last great couturiers, jokes that he could have kept on sketching forever.
Christian Lacroix’s Couture Collection for Schiaparelli|Alice Cavanagh|July 1, 2013|DAILY BEAST
On the first two, look for tone: is Obama preparing for a streetfight, or sketching the outlines of a deal?
What to Look for In Tonight's State of the Union|Megan McArdle|February 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A TV pilot for HBO, and a book of stories that I'm just now sketching out.
How I Write: ‘The Tragedy of Arthur’ by Arthur Phillips|Noah Charney|August 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
Guys was not what is properly called an artist, but he had the particular gift of sketching the chief points of things rapidly.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life|Thophile Gautier
Instead, he seemed to be sketching a face, which presently he tore carefully up into small pieces and destroyed.
The Double Four|E. Phillips Oppenheim
Before this sculpture, with its obscure designs, a man might have dreamed of Prometheus roughly sketching for Michael Angelo.
Toilers of the Sea|Victor Hugo
Minetta very much wants to be an artist, and you meet her with her sketching things all over the place.
Mushroom Town|Oliver Onions

British Dictionary definitions for sketch

sketch

/ (skɛtʃ) /

noun

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

a brief usually descriptive and informal essay or other literary composition

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

a short evocative piece of instrumental music, esp for piano

any brief outline

verb

to make a rough drawing (of)

(tr often foll by out) to make a brief description of

Derived forms of sketch

sketchable, adjectivesketcher, noun

Word Origin for sketch

C17: from Dutch schets, via Italian from Latin schedius hastily made, from Greek skhedios unprepared

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

sketch

OTHER WORDS FOR sketch

Origin of sketch

synonym study for sketch

OTHER WORDS FROM sketch

Words related to sketch

How to use sketch in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sketch

Derived forms of sketch

Word Origin for sketch