Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To draw or trace the outline of; sketch out.
- v. To represent pictorially; depict.
- v. To depict in words or gestures; describe. See Synonyms at represent.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To exhibit or mark out in lines; sketch or represent in outline: as, to delineate the form of the earth or a diagram.
- To represent pictorially; draw a likeness of; portray; depict.
- To describe; represent to the mind or understanding; exhibit it likeness of in words: as, to delineate character.
Wiktionary
- v. To sketch out, draw or trace an outline.
- v. To depict, represent with pictures.
- v. To describe or depict with words or gestures.
- v. To outline or mark out.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Delineated; portrayed.
- v. To indicate by lines drawn in the form or figure of; to represent by sketch, design, or diagram; to sketch out; to portray; to picture; in drawing and engraving, to represent in lines, as with the pen, pencil, or graver; hence, to represent with accuracy and minuteness. See delineation.
- v. To portray to the mind or understanding by words; to set forth; to describe.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. represented accurately or precisely
- v. make a mark or lines on a surface
- v. describe in vivid detail
- v. show the form or outline of
- v. determine the essential quality of
- v. trace the shape of
Etymologies
- Latin dēlīneāre, dēlīneāt- : dē-, de- + līnea, line, thread; see line1.
Examples
“The inability to see is an inability to "delineate": a persistent equation in the novel ( "Over him hung a form which I cannot find words to describe," Walton says [152]).”
“Professor has finished measuring, and is preparing to "delineate" me.”
“So the first order of business at the Trial of Barack Obama was to "delineate" (I think he just meant "delete") the most explosive charges -- treason and sedition -- from the indictment.”
“Canada's laws also seem to "delineate" medical quackery and fraud somewhat differently from those in the United States.”
“That's because the DOT will better "delineate" crosswalks.”
“The other two pads Orion proposes would "delineate" where the company might have economic production of natural gas in the area, Harris said.”
“Elsewhere I have discussed the importance and volatility of the figure of the body in aesthetic discourse (see Redfield, ch. 2); for present purposes it will suffice to note the emphatically aesthetic vocabulary with which Victor seeks to "delineate" his creature’s monstrosity.”
“Tallies of living languages differ widely depending on how evaluators delineate one language from another.”
“Although it depicts an entire hemisphere of the smallest planet, shadows delineate many of the features and would not, of course, be visible if this were a true "full Mercury" view taken from the direction of the Sun.”
“It floats in a state of apparent anti gravity, capturing its light within to graphically delineate a structural net as a soft external shadow of itself.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘delineate’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Mobying Along
looks like there's not an open Moby Dick list. So now there is.
hypos, Manhattoes, circumambulate, mole, grapnels, bowsprit, asphaltic, mazy, tranced, cataract, ungraspable, judgmatically and 227 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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de-
away from; off; down; entirely; undo; reverse
detrain, decline, defunct, defrost, debility, detract, deduce, deduct, delineate, defuse, debunk, debase and 7 more...
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Neat
neaten, beneath, underneath, neatherd, delineate, lineation, neath, neat's-foot oil, cuneate, uneaten, enneatic, neatnik and 20 more...
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sonicy
delineate, ubiquarian, abaculus, ell, gelid, stem-winder, alpenglow, ligature, corpuscle, corroboree, columnar, cuboidal and 7 more...
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Favs
'nuf said
guffaw, pontificate, regalia, appease, sage, epitome, posit, dissipate, delineate, congruent, erroneous, braggadocio and 20 more...
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-ate
1) to become; cause to become; form or produce; provide or treat with
2) characteristic of; filled with
3) office; function; agent; person or thing that is the object of an actionmaturate, invalidate, salivate, refrigerate, delineate, orchestrate, chlorinate, graduate, collegiate, passionate, caudate, directorate and 2 more...
seanahan It seems like this word should mean to remove the lines that separate things, and lineate should mean to make draw those lines. Sep 2, 2007