See outside the box in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for outside the box meaning in English (5.2kB)
{
"etymology_text": "Unclear. Attested since 1971 (see quotations) with allusion to the nine dots puzzle, where one needs to draw lines outside the perimeter of its nine dots. Earlier related phrases include go outside the dots (1956), step outside the box (1969), and think outside the dots (1970).",
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"2": "prepositional phrase",
"head": "outside the box"
},
"expansion": "outside the box",
"name": "head"
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "prep_phrase",
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{
"categories": [
{
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"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Thinking",
"orig": "en:Thinking",
"parents": [
"Mind",
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "The boss wants some new ideas—it's time to think outside the box.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1971 September 29, Michael R. Notaro, Jr., “Management of Personnel: Organization Patterns and Techniques”, in Data Management, volume 9, number 9, page 77",
"text": "\"THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX\". If you have kept your thinking process operating inside the lines and boxes, then you are normal and average, for that is the way your thinking has been programmed. ... Here are nine dots: If you were asked to pick up a pencil and try to touch every dot using four straight lines only, you would try it this way first. It would be incorrect. That's because this configuration is in the shape of a box and we are conditioned to think this way.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Beyond the bounds of convention."
],
"id": "en-outside_the_box-en-prep_phrase-Tq7IBggT",
"links": [
[
"bound",
"bound"
],
[
"convention",
"convention"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Beyond the bounds of convention."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "blue-sky thinking"
},
{
"word": "heterodox"
},
{
"word": "lateral thinking"
},
{
"word": "nonorthogonal"
},
{
"word": "reinvent the wheel"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "laterally"
},
{
"word": "out of the box"
},
{
"word": "outside of the box"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "跳出框架"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "uudella tavalla"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "ennakkoluulottomasti"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "luovasti"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "hors des sentiers battus"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "en dehors des clous"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "to think outside the box",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "um die Ecke denken"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "to think outside the box",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "quer denken"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "fuori dagli schemi"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "hako no soto",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "箱の外"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "nieszablonowo"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "fora da caixa"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "fora da caixinha"
},
{
"code": "ro",
"lang": "Romanian",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "gândi în afara cutiei"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "nestandártno",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "нестанда́ртно"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "utanför ramarna"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "utanför sin box"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "utanför boxen"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"nine dots puzzle",
"thinking outside the box"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-outside the box.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0e/En-au-outside_the_box.ogg/En-au-outside_the_box.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/En-au-outside_the_box.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "outside the box"
}
{
"etymology_text": "Unclear. Attested since 1971 (see quotations) with allusion to the nine dots puzzle, where one needs to draw lines outside the perimeter of its nine dots. Earlier related phrases include go outside the dots (1956), step outside the box (1969), and think outside the dots (1970).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
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"2": "prepositional phrase",
"head": "outside the box"
},
"expansion": "outside the box",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "prep_phrase",
"related": [
{
"word": "blue-sky thinking"
},
{
"word": "heterodox"
},
{
"word": "lateral thinking"
},
{
"word": "nonorthogonal"
},
{
"word": "reinvent the wheel"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
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"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples",
"Japanese terms with redundant script codes",
"Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"Requests for review of Spanish translations",
"Undetermined quotations with omitted translation",
"Undetermined terms with quotations",
"en:Thinking"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "The boss wants some new ideas—it's time to think outside the box.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1971 September 29, Michael R. Notaro, Jr., “Management of Personnel: Organization Patterns and Techniques”, in Data Management, volume 9, number 9, page 77",
"text": "\"THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX\". If you have kept your thinking process operating inside the lines and boxes, then you are normal and average, for that is the way your thinking has been programmed. ... Here are nine dots: If you were asked to pick up a pencil and try to touch every dot using four straight lines only, you would try it this way first. It would be incorrect. That's because this configuration is in the shape of a box and we are conditioned to think this way.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Beyond the bounds of convention."
],
"links": [
[
"bound",
"bound"
],
[
"convention",
"convention"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Beyond the bounds of convention."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "laterally"
},
{
"word": "out of the box"
},
{
"word": "outside of the box"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"nine dots puzzle",
"thinking outside the box"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-outside the box.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0e/En-au-outside_the_box.ogg/En-au-outside_the_box.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/En-au-outside_the_box.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
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"text": "Audio (AU)"
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],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "跳出框架"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "uudella tavalla"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "ennakkoluulottomasti"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "luovasti"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "hors des sentiers battus"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "en dehors des clous"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "to think outside the box",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "um die Ecke denken"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "to think outside the box",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "quer denken"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "fuori dagli schemi"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "hako no soto",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "箱の外"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "nieszablonowo"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "fora da caixa"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "fora da caixinha"
},
{
"code": "ro",
"lang": "Romanian",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "gândi în afara cutiei"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "nestandártno",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "нестанда́ртно"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "utanför ramarna"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "utanför sin box"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "beyond convention",
"word": "utanför boxen"
}
],
"word": "outside the box"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). 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.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.