• IPA: /ˈaʊtlaɪn/

outline (plural outlines)

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.

   • Painters, by their outlines, colours, lights, and shadows, represent the same in their pictures.

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. (film industry) A prose telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay; generally longer and more detailed than a treatment.
8. (fishing) A setline or trotline.

• French: contour
• German: Umriss, Kontur
• Italian: contorno
• Portuguese: contorno
• Russian: ко́нтур
• Spanish: contorno

• French: silhouette
• German: Umriss
• Italian: contorno
• Portuguese: contorno
• Russian: ко́нтур
• Spanish: contorno

• French: esquisse
• Portuguese: esboço
• Russian: набро́сок
• Spanish: esbozo

• French: aperçu
• German: Beschreibung
• Portuguese: resumo

• French: résumé
• German: Zusammenfassung
• Portuguese: resumo, sinopse
• Spanish: resumen

• French: ébauche
• Portuguese: esboço

• French: synopsis

outline (outlines, present participle outlining; past and past participle outlined)

1. (transitive) To draw an outline of.
2. (transitive) To summarize.

   Wikipedia items featuring books usually outline them after giving their background.

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:

     At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.

• French: entourer
• Russian: оче́рчивать
• Spanish: delinear

• German: zusammenfassen
• Italian: riassumere
• Russian: опи́сывать
• Spanish: resumir