The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - outline n.

1) profile, silhouette, contour, periphery, boundary, footprint: This outline is of the desk area occupied by the keyboard and monitor. 2) pr‚cis, synopsis, r‚sum‚, summary, digest, abstract, conspectus, survey, overview, run-down, recapitulation, review, (thumbnail) sketch, skeleton, (overall) plan, layout, framework, draft, scenario: O'Brien presented an outline of what his company planned to do after the take-over. --v. 3) trace, draft, sketch, rough out, profile, block (out) , plan (out) , lay out, define, delineate: None of the divers was particularly enthusiastic about the procedure outlined for bringing up the wreckage.