- sketch
- sketch n 1 outline, diagram, delineation, draft, tracing, plot, blueprint (see under SKETCH vb)Analogous words: design, plot, *plan, scheme, project: *chart, map2 précis, aperçu, *compendium, syllabus, digest, pandect, surveysketch vb Sketch, outline, diagram, delineate, draft, trace, plot, blueprint are comparable when they mean to present or to represent something by or as if by drawing its lines or its features. The same distinctions in implications and connotations are observable in the corresponding nouns sketch, outline, diagram, delineation, draft, tracing, plot, blueprint.Sketch may imply a drawing, a painting, a model, or a verbal presentation (as in a description or exposition) of the main lines, features, or points with the result that a clear, often a vivid, but not a detailed impression or conception of the whole is given{
then, in a calm historian's tone, he proceeded to sketch . . . some pictures of the corruption which was rife abroad— Joyce
}{this lecture is a humble attempt to sketch out a metaphysics of natural science— Inge
}{a sculptor's sketch of his design for a memorial
}{in some of Miss Jewett's earlier books . . . one can find first sketches, first impressions, which later crystallized into almost flawless examples of literary art— Cather
}Outline (compare OUTLINE n 1) differs from sketch in suggesting emphasis upon the contours of a thing that is represented or the main points of a thing expounded and in implying more or less inattention to the details which fill up, amplify, or particularize; the term therefore usually implies a more rigid selection and greater economy in treatment and less consideration for qualities which give pleasure than sketch implies and, often, suggests a presentation of a thing as a simplified whole{outlining a plan for a future investigation— Conant
}{the detailed study of history should be supplemented by brilliant outlines, even if they contained questionable generalizations— Russell
}{the gist of these books was preserved in a series of small outlines— Southern
}Diagram implies presentation by means of a graphic design (as a mechanical drawing, a pattern showing arrangement and distribution of parts, or a chart, map, or graph) of something which requires explanation rather than representation or portrayal{diagram the nervous system
}{he diagrammed his route on the tablecloth— Cather
}{spread out on the table a number of maps and aerial photographs that diagrammed what the Authority is up to— Robert Rice
}{there was little or no desire to amend the comprehensive diagram of . . . constitutional theory— Times Lit. Sup.
}Delineate and delineation come close to describe and description and depict and depiction. Though they carry a strong implication of drawing a thing so as to show its lines or features with great distinctness, they tend to stress amplifying details and therefore often imply greater fullness or richness in treatment than the preceding words{his brush did its work with a steady and sure stroke that indicated command of his materials. He could delineate whatever he elected with technical skill— Jefferies
}{the cult of beauty and the delineation of ugliness are not in natural opposition— Pound
}{he had a capacity for delineating emotions he had never felt— Edman
}Draft, especially as a verb, implies accurate drawing to scale, especially of an architect's plan for a building to be constructed or of a design (as for a ship, a machine, or an engine){young architects usually spend their first years in drafting plans rather than in designing buildings
}The term may apply to the drawing up of a preliminary statement which when corrected, polished, and copied will serve as a final statement{1draft me a proper letter to send him— Shaw)}
}{I have three or four drafts of each essay or chapter that I have written, and ... all of them run to about twice the length of the finished piece— Geismar
}{the legislature did pass a measure ... yet the controls were suggested—some insist drafted—by the industry itself— Armbrister
}Trace and tracing in their perhaps most common use refer to redrawing an existent design by following its lines as seen through a superimposed transparent sheet, but they can also apply when a precise and detailed pattern is to be formed by or as if by drawing. The terms are more likely to suggest accuracy in or as if in following or sometimes shakiness resulting from or as if from following a continuous line than they are to imply anything about the qualities of what is to be traced{trace an outline to be colored with cray- ons
}{make a tracing of a diagram
}{continuous blood pressure tracings have been recorded— Armstrong
}{time was tracing purple reminders on his nose and cheeks— Costain
}{Kurler swore, a palsied, tottering sound, and traced his name, a shaking, wandering line— Lowell
}{with my eyes I traced the line of the horizon, thin and fine, straight around till I was come back to where I'd started from— Millay
}{his fumbling brain had traced the braille of an enduring and bitter truth— Hervey
}Plot is often used in place of diagram or draft or, less often, sketch when a map, chart, or graph rather than a design is implied; distinctively it throws emphasis upon the indicating of specific locations (as points, areas, sections, or objectives) so that their relation to each other or the whole is clear; thus, one who diagrammatically represents the condition of business during a given year by means of a graph is said to plot a graph or to make a plot of the curve of business activity{plot the course of a hurricane
}{plot ... the exact position of the ship— Heaton
}Blueprint, from its common application to a photograph in white lines on blue paper of a draftsman's mechanical drawing or of an architect's plan, in extended use implies precise and detailed sketching or delineation; it suggests not the act of drawing or drawing up but the effect produced by what is drawn or drawn up{people engaged in the amusing and innocuous pastime of blueprinting a new social order— The Commonweal
}{the political leaders of the two countries are guided by the same political blueprints— Bevan
}Analogous words: design, plot, plan, scheme, project (see under PLAN n): chart, map, graph (see under CHART n)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.