thumbnail

[ thuhm-neyl ]

noun

1. the nail of the thumb.
2. anything quite small or brief, as a small drawing or short essay.
3. Printing. a small, rough dummy.
4. Also called porkchop. Journalism, Printing. a half-column portrait in a newspaper.

adjective

1. quite small or brief; concise:

   a thumbnail description of Corsica.

verb (used with object)

1. to make a thumbnail sketch or description of.

thumbnail

/ ˈθʌmˌneɪl /

noun

1. the nail of the thumb
2. modifier concise and brief

   a thumbnail sketch

3. computing a small image which can be expanded

Word History and Origins

Origin of thumbnail¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; thumb + nail

Example Sentences

The vibe that the entire class understands everything and you alone are lost is stronger, because you can’t read confusion in fuzzy Zoom thumbnails.

From MIT Technology Review

She also practiced at two prominent tech law firms, Wilson Sonsini and Perkins Coie, working on landmark copyright cases involving YouTube videos and thumbnail images.

From Fortune

When you search for a video on Bing, the results come up as a thumbnail grid.

From Search Engine Watch

Run your thumbnail along this line from head to tail, squeezing out all the blood.

From Outside Online

You’ve likely noticed when a link on one of these microbrowsers doesn’t generate any sort of helpful context, lacking a relevant thumbnail preview – whether image or video – that is auto-generated from the URL.

From Search Engine Land

The project made me ask, how do you avoid reducing the dead to thumbnail profiles?

From The Daily Beast

Think about times you've spotted a thumbnail-size photo from a friend in your feed and clicked to see it full-size.

From The Daily Beast

Huang has delivered an outstanding thumbnail history of the subject.

From The Daily Beast

At length, the Chief shook the ashes out of the bowl on his thumbnail, and prepared to speak.

From Project Gutenberg

The large blade of my knife being so hard to open placed me in constant risk of breaking my thumbnail.

From Project Gutenberg

And Clarissa stuck her long pointed thumbnail behind her long pointed teeth and jerked it forward.

From Project Gutenberg

The moment of fruition comes, and a filbert thumbnail spuds the hardened lozenge off the smooth glaze.

From Project Gutenberg

Turnbull tapped his teeth with a thumbnail for a couple of seconds, then shrugged slightly.

From Project Gutenberg