"color outside the lines" meaning in English

See color outside the lines in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: colors outside the lines [present, singular, third-person], coloring outside the lines [participle, present], colored outside the lines [participle, past], colored outside the lines [past]
Etymology: A reference to children's coloring books, which contain line drawings to be colored in. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} color outside the lines (third-person singular simple present colors outside the lines, present participle coloring outside the lines, simple past and past participle colored outside the lines)
  1. (intransitive) To behave in creative or unconventional ways, to break the rules. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-color_outside_the_lines-en-verb-cbSUDAtp
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see color, outside, lines.
    Sense id: en-color_outside_the_lines-en-verb-MzYE-hG0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 41 59 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 32 68 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 22 78

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to children's coloring books, which contain line drawings to be colored in.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "colors outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coloring outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "colored outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "colored outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "color outside the lines (third-person singular simple present colors outside the lines, present participle coloring outside the lines, simple past and past participle colored outside the lines)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009, James L. Nolan Jr, Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement:",
          "text": "As one American problem-solving court judge put it: “We are the judges who get to color outside the lines.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Bret Anthony Johnston, Corpus Christi: Stories:",
          "text": "It comes from the fact that skaters are more likely, as you say, to color outside the lines, and that inclination frightens and confuses most people and institutions.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Matthew Paul Turner, Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess:",
          "text": "For most of my life, I've watched my mother resist the urge to color outside the lines. Not because she didn't want to do it, but because some part of her wasn't free enough.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To behave in creative or unconventional ways, to break the rules."
      ],
      "id": "en-color_outside_the_lines-en-verb-cbSUDAtp",
      "links": [
        [
          "behave",
          "behave"
        ],
        [
          "creative",
          "creative"
        ],
        [
          "unconventional",
          "unconventional"
        ],
        [
          "rules",
          "rules"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To behave in creative or unconventional ways, to break the rules."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see color, outside, lines."
      ],
      "id": "en-color_outside_the_lines-en-verb-MzYE-hG0",
      "links": [
        [
          "color",
          "color#English"
        ],
        [
          "outside",
          "outside#English"
        ],
        [
          "lines",
          "lines#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "color outside the lines"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A reference to children's coloring books, which contain line drawings to be colored in.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "colors outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coloring outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "colored outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "colored outside the lines",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "color outside the lines (third-person singular simple present colors outside the lines, present participle coloring outside the lines, simple past and past participle colored outside the lines)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009, James L. Nolan Jr, Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement:",
          "text": "As one American problem-solving court judge put it: “We are the judges who get to color outside the lines.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Bret Anthony Johnston, Corpus Christi: Stories:",
          "text": "It comes from the fact that skaters are more likely, as you say, to color outside the lines, and that inclination frightens and confuses most people and institutions.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Matthew Paul Turner, Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess:",
          "text": "For most of my life, I've watched my mother resist the urge to color outside the lines. Not because she didn't want to do it, but because some part of her wasn't free enough.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To behave in creative or unconventional ways, to break the rules."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "behave",
          "behave"
        ],
        [
          "creative",
          "creative"
        ],
        [
          "unconventional",
          "unconventional"
        ],
        [
          "rules",
          "rules"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To behave in creative or unconventional ways, to break the rules."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see color, outside, lines."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "color",
          "color#English"
        ],
        [
          "outside",
          "outside#English"
        ],
        [
          "lines",
          "lines#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "color outside the lines"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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