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through-line

British

noun

a theme or idea that runs from the beginning to the end of a book, film, etc

"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

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:

through-line

There’s no obvious ideological through-line in these important decisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

But it certainly has an emotional through-line, one composed of equal parts anger, grief and exultation, specifically as these are expressed through Black bodies.

From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2024

She said there was "a through-line" which connected her experience to those families who had lost a child.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2024

Talk to me about that through-line — how do all of those influences come together in your food now?

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2023

Now, materiality in general is the principal through-line defining hugely diverse work made by the show’s 39 artists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023