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

But if that thumbnail sketch makes “Lux” sound like homework, the songs themselves are immediate and visceral, and the singer’s impassioned delivery is an invitation to listen more closely.

From The Wall Street Journal

They spent hours on Zoom, whittling down thumbnails of Basquiat works, deciding what to exhibit.

From Los Angeles Times

The BBC has reverse searched the thumbnail and seven frames from the video and found no copy of it previous to Tuesday evening, indicating that the footage is recent.

From BBC

It had 2,300 transistors on a 12-square-millimeter piece of silicon, or a fraction of the size of a thumbnail.

From Washington Post

In one attempt to create a viral moment, Minhaj said to the audience: "Let's get some YouTube views. I'm going to throw you a few clickbaity titles and you give me that YouTube thumbnail face."

From BBC