BLUEPRINT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does blueprint mean? 

• BLUEPRINT (noun)
  The noun BLUEPRINT has 2 senses:

1. something intended as a guide for making something else

2. photographic print of plans or technical drawings etc.

  Familiarity information: BLUEPRINT used as a noun is rare.

• BLUEPRINT (verb)
  The verb BLUEPRINT has 1 sense:

1. make a blueprint of

  Familiarity information: BLUEPRINT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLUEPRINT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something intended as a guide for making something else

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

blueprint; design; pattern

Context example:

a pattern for a skirt

Hypernyms ("blueprint" is a kind of...):

plan; program; programme (a series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished)

Derivation:

blueprint (make a blueprint of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Photographic print of plans or technical drawings etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("blueprint" is a kind of...):

exposure; photo; photograph; pic; picture (a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print or transparent slide or in digital format)

Derivation:

blueprint (make a blueprint of)

• BLUEPRINT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a blueprint of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

blueprint; draft; draught

Hypernyms (to "blueprint" is one way to...):

design; plan (make a design of; plan out in systematic, often graphic form)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

blueprint (photographic print of plans or technical drawings etc.)

blueprint (something intended as a guide for making something else)

 Context examples 

Our DNA – the blueprint for the human body – contains between 20,000-25,000 genes.

(Detailed genetic study provides most comprehensive map of risk to date of breast cancer risk, University of Cambridge)

DNA carries the instructions or blueprint for making all the structures and materials the body needs to function.

(DNA, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

These BGCs, the researchers said, represent the DNA blueprint for production of microbial natural products, and provide a template for future experimental efforts to discover biologically active small molecules from the microbiome.

(Human Body Microbes Make Antibiotics, Study Finds, NCCAM)

Almost all of the DNA that makes up the human genome – the body’s ‘blueprint’ – is contained within our cells’ nuclei.

(Interplay between mitochondria and the nucleus may have implications for changing cell’s ‘batteries’, University of Cambridge)

Mammals made the most of the existing anatomical blueprint, or so scientists believed.

(What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists, National Science Foundation)

They also examined local microbial diversity by reading the blueprints of more than 6,000 individual cells in a single teaspoon of water from the Sargasso Sea.

(Study analyzing cells' blueprints reveals new patterns in the global distribution and diversity of ocean microbes, National Science Foundation)