chart

chart n Chart, map, graph are comparable as nouns meaning a graphic and explanatory representation by means of lines, dots, colors, and symbols of something incapable of verbal or pictorial representation (because too large, too detailed, or too abstract) and as verbs meaning to make such a representation of something.

Chart is the most inclusive of these terms; it implies the aim of making clear to the mind through the eye by graphic projection of data something (as solutions of an equation, points on the face of the earth, or values of a variable at specified times and places) that cannot be viewed directly

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a chart of coastal rainfall

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a nomographic conversion chart for an equation relating two variable quantities consists of two scales and a pivot point— French & Vierck

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a star chart

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charting the shifting channel of a river

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at 30,000 feet, in clear skies above the boiling cloud cap of a hurricane, an Air Force plane charts the size of the disturbance— N. Y. Times

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Chart often specifically denotes a map designed as an aid to air or water navigation by stressing features and hazards of the area depicted

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the modern nautical chart is the end product of all the field operations. Into its construction enter the results of the geodetic, topographic, hydrographic, tidal, and magnetic work of the Survey— Shalowitz

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an uncharted rock

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Map usually implies a representation of the earth's surface or of a part of it that shows directly according to some given scale or projection the relative position and size of cultural features (as streets, buildings, cities, towns, villages, counties, states, provinces, or countries) as well as the shape and proportionate extent of natural features (as bodies of water, mountain ranges, and coasts)

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a map of Europe

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map a newly explored country

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It may also be used in reference to a representation of the celestial sphere or of a particular heavenly body

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mapping the surface of the moon

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a map of the northern heavens

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Graph applies specifically to a chart or diagram in which two variable factors (for example, the prices of a commodity and the times at which these varying prices were asked) are so represented as to indicate their interrelationship. The usual method of preparing a graph is to locate by means of coordinates a series of points and often to join them with a curve or a series of straight lines

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a graph of a patient's fever

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graph the course of business since 1962

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Analogous words: *plan, plot, scheme, design, project

chart vb map, graph (see under CHART n)

Analogous words: see those at CHART n