timeline

noun

time·​line ˈtīm-ˌlīn 

variants or time line

plural timelines or time lines

1

a

: an arrangement or occurrence (as of past events) in time : chronology

After interviewing the suspect, the wardens pieced together a timeline of events and gathered enough evidence to file appropriate charges …

—Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

b

: a visual representation of events associated with a particular period of time arranged chronologically along a line or in a linear format

The book also includes a timeline, showing which dinosaurs lived when and where, and how the Earth has changed over millions of years.

—The Children's Bookwatch

In her "Foundations of Western Civilization" course … Prof. Julia Gossard has her students create a timeline of the history of food …

—Thomas Keith

c

: a schedule of planned events, actions, etc. : timetable sense 2

With just under a year left until your nuptials, here's what's next on your wedding planning timeline.

—Sarah Hanlon

Giving the client a say in every step of the project could create a delay and throw off the timeline …

—Katie Bates

2

: a period of time especially with respect to some project or event : time frame

And what's the timeline for implementing these changes?

—Mark Sovel

The stakes are high, and the timeline is tight.

—Rio Longacre

… school districts can't open before Labor Day and must end by June 15. But to meet that compressed timeline … , districts have had to consider trade-offs.

—Donna St. George

3

: a stream of social media posts : feed sense 3e

Algorithmic timelines quietly replaced chronological ones, until our social-media feeds no longer took direction from us, but rather directed us where they wanted us to go.

—Yair Rosenberg

And if there's something funny … I make sure to Retweet so others can cleanse their timeline and enjoy.

—Andy Richardson

4

: a branch of a theoretical multiverse that exists in parallel with other branches

… the notion that we're surrounded by a multitude of parallel selves, one of which might be living in a better timeline than the one we're stuck in.

—S. I. Rosenbaum

—used especially in science fiction

… Dune: Awakening is set in an "alternate" timeline from the original Frank Herbert novels, where something has happened to change the course of history.

—Wes Fenlon

Examples of timeline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sticking to a budget and timeline will make the difference between success and failure. —Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 12 Nov. 2024

That is a question that likely will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, but there is no clear timeline for that. —Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic, 5 Nov. 2024

That also means that election results will follow a slightly different timeline than in years past. —Kale Williams, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024

The timeline of that boost would vary by employer size, giving businesses with 25 or fewer workers until 2026 to have to pay that amount. —Dan Mangan,kevin Breuninger,jake Piazza,annie Nova,rebecca Picciotto,ece Yildirim, CNBC, 4 Nov. 2024

Certification refusals delay election outcomes in an already tight timeline and disrupt a system that has been proven effective for decades. —Clifford Tatum, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2024

Jain set a timeline for being caught up in technology to the end of 2025. —Bill Stone, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024

Other clerks have criticized the timeline of the transition but haven’t reported problems with the data transfers. —Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, 2 Nov. 2024

Production timeline details and casting were not announced today. —Greg Evans, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined at sense 1