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PlainSpell

delineate

UK /dɪˈlɪniːeɪt/verb

delineate is spelled D-E-L-I-N-E-A-T-E: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,368th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, delineate means “To sketch out, draw or trace an outline” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in delineate?

Letters9: D-E-L-I-N-E-A-T-E
Syllables4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 49,368th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is delineate?

Delineate appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,368th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce delineate?

  • UK /dɪˈlɪniːeɪt/

Delineate has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-delineate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of delineate

  • delineates present, singular, he/she/it
  • delineating participle, present
  • delineated participle, past
  • more delineate comparative
  • most delineate superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does delineate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To sketch out, draw or trace an outline.

  2. 2

    To depict, represent with pictures.

  3. 3

    To describe or depict with words or gestures.

  4. 4

    To outline or mark out.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteDelineated, sketched out.

  2. 2

    obsoleteSketched out, portrayed, described, defined.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Delineate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdélinéer (sketch out, draw or trace an outline), décrire (describe or depict with words or gestures)
Germanumreißen (sketch out, draw or trace an outline), schildern (describe or depict with words or gestures), skizzieren (depict, represent with pictures), abgrenzen (outline or mark out)
Portuguesedelinear (sketch out, draw or trace an outline)
Spanishdelinear (sketch out, draw or trace an outline)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does delineate come from?

First attested in 1559; borrowed from Latin dēlīneātus, perfect passive participle of dēlīneo (“to sketch out, to delineate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from dē- + līnea (“line”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after delineate