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

Your specific closing timeline will depend on several factors, though, including the type of loan, your credit history, when the appraisal and inspection can be scheduled and if the title search turns up any irregularities. —Kelsey Neubauer, CNBC, 30 Jan. 2025

His initial return timeline of December-January is now all but out the window. —Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 30 Jan. 2025

Context: Hypersonic advances made by China and Russia are pressuring American offenses, defenses and timelines. —Colin Demarest, Axios, 29 Jan. 2025

The board said the governor does not have a statutory timeline to respond. —Melissa Chan, NBC News, 29 Jan. 2025

This dreamy timeline is rendered quite beautifully by Bradford Young, who serves as cinematographer. —Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Jan. 2025

From there, Fogelman quickly gets into his beloved fractured timelines, taking us back several years to show how the two men met, and to see Xavier save Cal (who was still president, sort of, at the time of his death) from a previous assassination attempt. —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 28 Jan. 2025

Perhaps impatient with Edwards’s timeline, the New York preacher William Miller, whose success at prophecy can be inferred from what is known in the Millerite movement as the Great Disappointment, predicted that the Second Coming would occur on October 22, 1844. —Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025

Here, real estate experts offer tips on how to plan and execute a renovation timeline and how to effectively manage it. —Kristine Gill, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined at sense 1