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sketch
[ skech ]
noun
- a simply or hastily executed drawing or painting, especially a preliminary one, giving the essential features without the details.
- a rough design, plan, or draft, as of a book.
Synonyms: outline
- a brief or hasty outline of facts, occurrences, etc.:
a sketch of his life.
- a short, usually descriptive, essay, history, or story.
- a short play or slight dramatic performance, as one forming part of a vaudeville program.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
- to make a sketch or sketches.
sketch
/ skɛtʃ /
noun
- a rapid drawing or painting, often a study for subsequent elaboration
- a brief usually descriptive and informal essay or other literary composition
- a short play, often comic, forming part of a revue
- a short evocative piece of instrumental music, esp for piano
- any brief outline
verb
- to make a rough drawing (of)
- troften foll byout to make a brief description of
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Derived Forms
- ˈsketcher, noun
- ˈsketchable, adjective
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Other Words From
- sketcher noun
- sketching·ly adverb
- sketchlike adjective
- re·sketch verb (used with object)
- un·sketched adjective
- well-sketched adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sketch1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sketch1
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
Watts helped Jagger design the stage sets for the band’s elaborate world tours, but on the road he generally stayed to himself, listening to jazz and drawing sketches of his hotel rooms.
Her stoic personality is ready fodder for comedy and sketches.
Google posted sketches of “examples of drops and what they could potentially mean.”
SNL veteran Kenan Thompson was also nominated for his work on the sketch series, a category in which he seems to have better odds.
These help you create some seriously brilliant results, from basic digital sketches to advanced computer-generated artwork.
Then they would go to a hotel afterwards and combine the parts they had remembered in one sketch.
As for the artist, the great Turner canvases, his watercolors and his sketch books are never allowed to speak.
The premise of the sketch was that sex was too spontaneous to be regulated, and the quiz show played that idea to the hilt.
Even though it was just a line in a sketch, were you like, “I am saying a line in a sketch on SNL?”
Look to “Booty Rap,” easily the best sketch on this season thus far, for proof of that.
It is impossible to believe that thus far it is anything but a sketch and intimation of what it will presently be.
The magazines sketch us a lively article, the newspapers vignette us, step by step, a royal tour.
I have an old sketch of a back view of three of them taken side by side; you see nothing but billows of fine silky hair.
They would have made a good study for an artist, had an artist been at hand to sketch them and their surroundings.
Who is not carried back to good old times as he reads this sketch of Connecticut goin' to meetin' fifty years ago?
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Related Words
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More About Sketch
What is a basic definition of sketch?
A sketch is a drawing or painting that is usually made quickly and lacks finer details. Sketch is also used to mean to create a sketch of something. A sketch can also be a short dramatic performance. Sketch has a few other senses as a verb and a noun.
Most artists begin with a sketch, or many sketches, before they work on what will be the final product, such as an oil painting. For example, cartoonists will often make a sketch of a new character without colors, shading, or detailed lines so they can get feedback before putting in too much effort. A painter may draw a sketch of landscape with colored pencils so they can figure out the best colors and shades that would go well together.
- Real-life examples: Many artists would be happy to draw a sketch of something for you if you pay them the right price. Police will often create a sketch of a suspect based on a witness’s description of them. You can find many early sketches of famous characters like Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob SquarePants on the internet.
- Used in a sentence: The artist made several sketches of the model before beginning his work on the elaborate portrait.
In this same sense, sketch is used as a verb to mean to draw a sketch of something.
- Used in a sentence: I sketched a cat in my notebook during the boring lecture.
A sketch is also a short dramatic performance, especially one that is part of a comedy show. Comedic performances that consist solely of a collection of short, humorous stories are known as sketch comedy.
- Real-life examples: Saturday Night Live, The Kids in the Hall, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Sesame Street are television programs that all use sketches.
- Used in a sentence: Chris Farley was in most of my favorite sketches from Saturday Night Live.
Where does sketch come from?
The first records of sketch come from around 1660. It ultimately comes from the Greek skhedios, meaning “unprepared.”
Did you know … ?
What are some other forms related to sketch?
- sketcher (noun)
- sketchingly (adverb)
- sketchlike (adjective)
- resketch (verb)
What are some synonyms for sketch?
What are some words that share a root or word element with sketch?
What are some words that often get used in discussing sketch?
How is sketch used in real life?
Sketch is a common word that most often refers to quick, basic drawings.
I found some sketches I did at 17 of tattoos I wanted and I'm just really grateful I didn't have the money for a tattoo at 17.
— Keanu Steez (@boatsandhoes92) November 27, 2016
It's cute how my sister sketched a picture of what she wanted her wedding dress to be like when she was 17 & her real dress was just like it
— Amy Estrella (@_amy4197) May 6, 2014
The Christopher Walken “more cowbell sketch” is responsible for making me hyper aware of when there is a cowbell in any song
— Emily Paulus (@empaul_) August 13, 2018
Try using sketch!
True or False?
A sketch is a finished drawing that includes all of the specific details and colors.
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