skyline
Americannoun
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the boundary line between earth and sky; the apparent horizon.
A sail appeared against the skyline.
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the outline of something, as the buildings of a city, against the sky.
the New York skyline.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the line at which the earth and sky appear to meet; horizon
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the outline of buildings, mountains, trees, etc, seen against the sky
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of skyline
Explanation
In a city, the row of buildings you can see right at the horizon is called a skyline. The best views of the Manhattan skyline are from New Jersey and Brooklyn. When you're near a city but not in the center of it, you can really appreciate its skyline. Officially, you don't need a full-fledged city to have a skyline, just an outline of land or buildings along the horizon. Still, when you think of skylines, you probably think of New York or Los Angeles or Shanghai. The word dates from 1824.
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:
Behind them the water is a luminescent strip of blue, abutting a silhouetted skyline in which many of the buildings belch smoke; a few of the industrial structures spew fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The new owners of the stalled Oceanwide project in downtown Los Angeles have agreed to start cleaning up the embarrassing splash of color on the city’s skyline even before they have finished formally acquiring it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The second property sits on a 1.34-acre waterfront lot inside the exclusive guard-gated enclave and offers sweeping views of Biscayne Bay and the downtown Miami skyline.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Like a giant black shroud, it hung over the Moscow skyline.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
A single huge chimney dominated the distant skyline.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Popular American streamers Darren Watkins Jr., known as IShowSpeed, and Hasan Piker both toured China last year, bringing visions of the country’s futuristic skylines to millions of viewers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
Trump has spent decades tussling with residents and politicians over development projects that changed city skylines from New York to Chicago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
The movie opens with a bird’s-eye view of Los Angeles’ picturesque skylines, reservoirs and grassy hillsides before the bold-faced title appears, accompanied by ominous music courtesy of legendary composer John Williams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
Shrugging off rolling cornfields and New York skylines, they set their stories against the dense Amazon, craggy Andean mountainscapes and unmistakably Latin American urban sprawl.
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2023
She’s drawn cities there, skylines around the soles.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
He is skylined on the hill above us, facing us from 184 yards away.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
