baseline
English
![](Images/wiktionary/Typography_Line_Terms.svg.png.webp)
The baseline (red) in typography (3)
![](Images/wiktionary/Tennis_court_imperial.svg.png.webp)
The baseline of a tennis court (4)
Etymology
base + line
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbeɪslaɪn/
Audio (UK) (file) - Homophone: bassline
Noun
baseline (plural baselines)
- A line that is a base for measurement or for construction.
- A laser level generates a convenient baseline for interior work.
- A datum used as the basis for calculation or for comparison.
- We used the last doctor visit to provide baselines for vital statistics.
- 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 176:
- Currently, about fifty million square miles of land on the planet are ice-free, and this is the baseline that's generally used for calculating human impacts.
- (typography) A line used as the basis for the alignment of glyphs.
- Coordinate terms: beardline, midline, capline, topline
- Several characters typically have descenders below the lower baseline.
- (tennis) The line at the farthest ends of the court indicating the boundary of the area of play.
- The umpire missed the call. The ball hit the baseline.
- (engineering) A configuration of software, hardware, or a process that is established and documented as a point of reference.
- The baseline configuration includes unsupported components.
Hypernyms
- line
Derived terms
- baselined
- baseline driver
- baseline game
- baseliner
- very-long-baseline interferometry
Translations
line that is a base for measurement or for construction
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datum used as the basis for calculation or for comparison
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typography: line used as the basis for the alignment of glyphs
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tennis: chalk line at the farthest ends of the court
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engineering: something established and documented as a point of reference
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Verb
baseline (third-person singular simple present baselines, present participle baselining, simple past and past participle baselined)
- (engineering, computing) To provide a baseline for measurement.
- 1993, M.M. Mitchell et al., “Residual Feed Cracking Catalysts”, in Magee & Mitchell, editors, Fluid Catalytic Cracking, →ISBN, page 320:
- Finally, the test was baselined by evaluating the best and poorest catalysts of their respective types by this protocol.
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- (tennis) To play from the baseline.
- 2002, Susan Orlean, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, →ISBN, page 260:
- By the time Maggie, who is eight years younger than Manuela, started playing, baselining was no longer enough to win points, so she learned to move around the court more …
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Further reading
baseline (typography) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
baseline (configuration management) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
baseline (medicine) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
baseline (surveying) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- Balinese, sabeline