sketch

[skech] /skɛtʃ/
noun
1.
a simply or hastily executed drawing or painting, especially a preliminary one, giving the essential features without the details.
2.
a rough design, plan, or draft, as of a book.
3.
a brief or hasty outline of facts, occurrences, etc.:
a sketch of his life.
4.
a short, usually descriptive, essay, history, or story.
5.
a short play or slight dramatic performance, as one forming part of a vaudeville program.
verb (used with object)
6.
to make a sketch of.
7.
to set forth in a brief or general account:
He sketched his own part in the affair.
8.
Metallurgy. (in a steel mill or the like) to mark (a piece) for cutting.
verb (used without object)
9.
to make a sketch or sketches.
Origin
1660-70; < Dutch schets (noun) ≪ Italian schizzo < Latin schedium extemporaneous poem, noun use of neuter of schedius extempore < Greek schédios
Related forms
sketcher, noun
sketchingly, adverb
sketchlike, adjective
resketch, verb (used with object)
unsketched, adjective
well-sketched, adjective
Synonyms
2. outline. 5. skit, act, routine. 6. draw, outline, design, rough out, delineate, represent. See depict.
Examples from the web for sketch
  • He would peer at length through the eyepiece, then down at his sketch pad and draw a line or two, then return to the eyepiece.
  • Clever digital pen lets you sketch a calculator and solve problems or draw a piano keyboard and play music.
  • Or they sketch a plausible argument but leave out supporting evidence.
  • Such advances could allow law enforcement to sketch a description from clues in a suspect s genes.
  • He lights a cigarette and waves his hands in the air to sketch the scene.
  • Wired asked four top caricaturists to sketch the writer of this story.
  • Perhaps reinclude a bit more plot--a brief sketch of each piece, especially the novel--for readers unfamiliar with the works.
  • Consumption surveys, which track what people actually spend, sketch a more lifelike portrait of the material quality of life.
  • Scientists have completed a rough sketch of the canine genome.
  • One of my colleagues asks her students to sketch their names using a typeface that conveys something about themselves.
British Dictionary definitions for sketch

sketch

/skɛtʃ/
noun
1.
a rapid drawing or painting, often a study for subsequent elaboration
2.
a brief usually descriptive and informal essay or other literary composition
3.
a short play, often comic, forming part of a revue
4.
a short evocative piece of instrumental music, esp for piano
5.
any brief outline
verb
6.
to make a rough drawing (of)
7.
(transitive) often foll by out. to make a brief description of
Derived Forms
sketchable, adjective
sketcher, noun
Word Origin
C17: from Dutch schets, via Italian from Latin schedius hastily made, from Greek skhedios unprepared
Word Origin and History for sketch
n.

"rough drawing intended to serve as the basis for a finished picture," 1660s, from Dutch schets or Low German skizze, both apparently 17c. artists' borrowings from Italian schizzo "sketch, drawing," which is commonly said to be from Latin *schedius (OED compares schedia "raft," schedium "an extemporaneous poem"), from or related to Greek skhedios "temporary, extemporaneous, done or made off-hand," related to skhema "form, shape, appearance" (see scheme (n.)). But according to Barnhart Italian schizzo is a special use of schizzo "a splash, squirt," from schizzare "to splash or squirt," of uncertain origin.

Extended sense of "brief account" is from 1660s; meaning "short play or performance, usually comic" is from 1789. Sketch-book recorded from 1820. German Skizze, French esquisse, Spanish esquicio are likewise from Italian schizzo.

v.

1690s, "present the essential facts of," from sketch (n.). Meaning "draw, portray in outline and partial shading" is from 1725. Related: Sketched; sketcher; sketching.

Slang definitions & phrases for sketch

sketch

Related Terms

thumbnail sketch


Encyclopedia Article for sketch

traditionally a rough drawing or painting in which an artist notes down his preliminary ideas for a work that will eventually be realized with greater precision and detail. The term also applies to brief creative pieces that per se may have artistic merit

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