thumbnail

American  

[thuhm-neyl] / ˈθʌmˌneɪl /

noun

1. the nail of the thumb.

2. anything quite small or brief, as a small drawing or short essay.

3. Printing. a small, rough dummy.

4. Also called porkchop.  Journalism, Printing. a half-column portrait in a newspaper.

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adjective

1. quite small or brief; concise.

   a thumbnail description of Corsica.

verb (used with object)

1. to make a thumbnail sketch or description of.

thumbnail British  

/ ˈθʌmˌneɪl /

noun

1. the nail of the thumb

2. (modifier) concise and brief

   a thumbnail sketch

3. computing a small image which can be expanded

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Etymology

Origin of thumbnail

First recorded in 1595–1605; thumb + nail

Example Sentences

For each featured book, there’s a thumbnail portrait of its author, an image of the cover and one or two other intriguing visuals.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

The creator economy also has more specialized roles, such as thumbnail designers — people who create the images used to tease videos on sites including YouTube.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 12, 2025

For video Stories, you might be able to view a static thumbnail, with no hope of recovering the rest of the footage.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2024

To distinguish between more innocuous cases of narcissism and the literally dangerous varieties, Durvasula offered a thumbnail test: "Narcissists who are narcissistic do feel remorse," Durvasula said.

From Salon • May 20, 2024

The snails were the size of my thumbnail, and their swirling, multicolored shells were soft to the touch.

From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate