outline
Americannoun
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outlines
plural
-
the line by which a figure or object is defined or bounded; contour.
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a drawing or sketch restricted to line without shading or modeling of form.
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a general sketch, account, or report, indicating only the main features, as of a book, subject, or project.
an outline of medieval history; an outline of a speech.
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outlines, the essential features or main aspects of something under discussion.
At the first meeting, we gave her only the outlines of the project.
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Printing. an ornamented type in which the outside contours of each character appear in black, with the inside left white.
verb (used with object)
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outlines,
present (3rd person singular)
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outlined,
past participle, past
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outlining
present participle
noun
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a preliminary or schematic plan, draft, account, etc
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(usually plural) the important features of an argument, theory, work, etc
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the line by which an object or figure is or appears to be bounded
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-
a drawing or manner of drawing consisting only of external lines
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( as modifier )
an outline map
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verb
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to draw or display the outline of
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to give the main features or general idea of
Synonym Usage
See form.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outlinesimple
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outlinessimple
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have outlinedperfect
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has outlinedperfect
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am outliningprogressive
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are outliningprogressive
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is outliningprogressive
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have been outliningperfect progressive
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has been outliningperfect progressive
Past
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outlinedsimple
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had outlinedperfect
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was outliningprogressive
-
were outliningprogressive
-
had been outliningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outline
Explanation
The gist, the essence, the major parts of something — that's its outline. The origins of outline come from the artistic practice of marking a line around the outer edge of a person or shape in a picture before filling it in. Only later, in the 1800s, did it come to be applied to verbal descriptions, too. Technically an outline suggests a condensed form of something, but as any high school or college student knows, course outlines have a habit of being pretty darn long. In 1919 H.G. Wells wrote a book called An Outline of History. Its length? 1,324 pages.
Vocabulary lists containing outline
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Expository Writing, List 2
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Writing - Middle School
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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:
It’s not worth digging much into the film’s story; whether you’ve seen the first movie or just have a general outline of it, you’ll be wholly unsurprised by everything that happens in its sequel.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
The rebranding arrives one week before a highly anticipated capital markets day at which CEO Mike Doustdar is expected to outline the company’s strategy under his leadership.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Unlike Maresca's more specific solutions, which outline where and when certain actions should be taken, it is often United's players who decide when and where to use what they've been taught.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Their call came just a week before EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was to outline how the bloc intends to better protect children online from dangerous content and addictive apps.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
This chapter will outline some of the characteristics and key elements of music and play, including a discussion of the innateness of musical creativity and suggestions for encouraging creativity.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
The proposal outlines arguments made in several past lawsuits that the definition of “whole number of persons” to be counted should be more limited than in the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
The SDOB, typically produced twice monthly, outlines the worldwide availability of U.S. warships, aircraft, personnel, and weapons systems.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026
The talks in Washington came after Prime Minister Mark Carney briefed Canada's regional leaders on the outlines of a pact to stabilize bilateral trade.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
The outlines of this story are familiar, but Ms. Rogoyska sees it anew through the Hotel Lutetia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Gran unbolted the door, and we stood in the doorway leading into her garage, shadows and dark outlines lurking throughout.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
On Saturday, Amodei outlined ways he hoped to slow the pace of AI development.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
The shapes and positions outlined above give United's players a framework to start from.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Tesla plans to host an inauguration event on Sept. 24 for the Nevada facility that had previously outlined a production target of 50,000 Semis per year.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
CVC Capital Partners named TPG TPG -3.30%decrease; down pointing triangle executive Todd Sisitsky and company insider Peter Rutland as co-chief executives as the buyout group outlined its leadership succession plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Her curly hair is in a loose bun, and her green eyes are outlined with dark eyeliner.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
Anthropic released its latest risk report in August, outlining risks with superintelligence, or the point when AI models can intellectually outperform humans across several domains.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
In a paragraph outlining the evaluation process and criteria, they wrote:
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Last November, her legal team filed a three-page document outlining the arguments they plan to make in an effort to overturn her conviction.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Colby Jenkins, a senior Pentagon official, transmitted the 12-page unclassified assessment to congressional defense committees outlining Pentagon assessments of civilian casualties for all its global operations in 2025.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Armed with the assurance that Markham would not squeal, I humbly wrote a long letter to Washington, outlining how I might profit from being in the joint presence of Perutz and Markham.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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.
