outline
/ˈaʊtlaɪn/noun, verb
outline is spelled O-U-T-L-I-N-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, outline means “A line marking the boundary of an object figure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of outline is outlines.
How many letters and syllables are in outline?
| Letters | 7: O-U-T-L-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.3 times per million words; the 8,036th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is outline?
Outline appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th 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 outline?
- /ˈaʊtlaɪn/
Outline has 2 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: En-us-outline.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with outline?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as outline.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: elution, lineout.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of outline
- outlines plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- outlining participle, present
- outlined participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does outline mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A line marking the boundary of an object figure.
- 2
The outer shape of an object or figure.
- 3
A sketch or drawing in which objects are delineated in contours without shading.
- 4
A general description of some subject.
- 5
A statement summarizing the important points of a text.
- 6
A preliminary plan for a project.
the outline of a speech
- 7
A prose telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay; generally longer and more detailed than a treatment.
- 8
A setline or trotline.
verb
- 1
To draw an outline of; to describe.
- 2
To summarize.
Wikipedia items featuring books usually outline them after giving their background.
- 3
To optimize for size by replacing repeated code fragments with function calls.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Outline in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | contour , silhouette , esquisse , aperçu , résumé , ébauche |
| German | Umriss, Kontur , Skizze, Skizzierung, Umrisszeichnung , umreißen |
| Portuguese | contorno , esboço , resumo , sinopse |
| Spanish | contorno , delineación, delineamento, delineamiento, croquis , bocetear |
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 outline come from?
From out + line.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).