thumbnail sketch

thumbnail sketch

1. A small picture that presents a smaller version of a larger image or proposed image. Before fully redesigning the layout of the office, the interior designer provided me with a thumbnail sketch of his initial plans.
2. A short description or preview. Class, each of you will need to submit a thumbnail sketch of your essay topic for my approval.
See also: sketch, thumbnail
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a thumbnail sketch

a brief or small picture or description. The manager gave a thumbnail sketch of her plans. The student wrote a thumbnail sketch of his project.
See also: sketch, thumbnail
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

thumbnail sketch

A brief outline or cursory description, as in Let me give you a thumbnail sketch of the situation. This idiom alludes to drawing a picture no larger than a thumbnail. [Mid-1800s]
See also: sketch, thumbnail
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

thumbnail sketch

n. a quick and concise description. (One that could be written on someone’s thumbnail.) Let me give you a thumbnail sketch of what happened.
See also: sketch, thumbnail
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • a thumbnail sketch
  • thumbnail
  • be the (very) image of (someone)
  • be the image of somebody/something
  • on brand
  • superimpose
  • superimpose (someone or something) on(to) (someone or something
  • superimpose on
  • image
  • high-res
References in periodicals archive
This is a thumbnail sketch of Randolph Trumbach's first volume of an ambitious and sustained exploration of sexuality in eighteenth-century London.
So his method of contending with the issues in his book, while incorporating statistics where appropriate, is to give a thumbnail sketch of an individual's theories (Foucault, Derrida, Bloom, deMan -- you name it) that is marvelously clear, and then to show how someone else took a bit from here, a bit from there, and moved "forward" (though the reader is often left wondering about the direction, as Kernan wishes).
Father Mohammed, a Jesuit priest, devotes the first chapter to an orthodox thumbnail sketch of Islamic history, scripture, and belief.
Many of the items on display have been used to illustrate this new A4-sized, 60-page museum guide, which serves a dual purpose as a thumbnail sketch of British racing itself.
In his book The Moral Animal, Robert Wright provides a thumbnail sketch of how this process might work:
The thumbnail sketch of the entrepreneur (p28) provides a role model that few human beings could aspire to, and the statistics on small business failure which follow, while realistic, could not be considered encouraging to many people.
Develop a thumbnail sketch of the company, including its business, its industry, its size and the names of key officers.
We presented the government with a thumbnail sketch of what the new corporation could be and we wanted $2-million to flesh this out.
The novel begins with his list of top five heartbreaks, which he annotates, thus giving the reader a thumbnail sketch of Rob's life.
Based on the study, a thumbnail sketch of the typical chain drug store is a suburban outlet from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet that more often than not offers such ancillary services as home delivery and money-order sales.
I gave him a brief thumbnail sketch of William Faulkner--Mississippian, great writer, appreciator of the soil and good bourbon--before quoting what Faulkner had written of the mule: 'He will work for you patiently for ten years for the chance to kick you once.' The Old Man cackled in delight.
Green (who is credited with the introductions and notes) gives a useful, though irritatingly presented, thumbnail sketch of Jacob's life and work in her eight-page general introduction.
offers an excellent thumbnail sketch of Grail's history with its spiritually rich and politically responsive developments in recent years, including the introduction of neopaganism, holistic health, and ecofeminism in the 1980s.
Obviously, the bigger the company the more information is generally available, nevertheless here is a thumbnail sketch of many of the food businesses in the UK and it demonstrates what they have been doing in the last two years.
The remainder of this article provides a thumbnail sketch of the IRS's current expert systems projects.