adumbration.

A preliminary outline, sketch or indication of something not yet fully developed or stated.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• adumbration of a plan
• preliminary adumbration

On the page

The memorandum supplied an adumbration of a plan rather than its detailed conditions.

The preliminary adumbration suggested the later structure without fixing every part.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Singular adumbration; plural adumbrations. Also uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: narrative transformation, conception and possibility, memory representation, anticipatory detail. Disciplines: literary writing, advanced general English, narrative analysis. Commonness: uncommon.