baseline
baseline — noun
1. a starting level or set of early measurements that you record first, so that lat
a starting level or set of early measurements that you record first, so that later changes in things like test results, prices, or pollution levels can be measured against it.
Doctors took a blood-pressure reading on Monday to establish a baseline for the trial.
collocation: establish a baseline for sth
Sales in January gave the team a useful baseline for tracking growth across the year.
pattern: baseline for tracking/measuring sth
Air-quality readings from 1990 still serve as the baseline against which new data is compared.
The teacher gave a short test in week one to set a baseline for each child's reading level.
Profits this quarter came in well above the baseline that the board had agreed in March.
- benchmark
very close in meaning, but suggests a target to beat or match
- reference point
more general; baseline is specifically the starting state
- starting point
everyday word; less technical than baseline
- yardstick
a standard for judging quality, not necessarily a starting measure
文法句型
a baseline for sth
set a baseline
above/below the baseline
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 2 (the painted sports line): this sense is abstract and almost always appears with verbs like 'establish', 'set', 'provide', or with prepositions 'for', 'against', and 'above/below'. Often used attributively too — 'baseline data', 'baseline figures'.
常見錯誤
2. in tennis or basketball, the painted line at each end of the court that marks wh
in tennis or basketball, the painted line at each end of the court that marks where the playing area stops; in baseball, either of the two straight lines that run from home plate out past first or third base.
Serena stood right on the baseline and waited for the second serve.
collocation: stand on the baseline
The umpire ruled that the ball had landed just inside the baseline.
collocation: land inside/outside the baseline
Hana hit a sharp ground ball straight down the third-base baseline for a double.
Coach Olu told the players to spread out along the baseline under the basket and wait for her signal.
Young Pablo kept hitting his returns long, sending the ball well past the baseline at the back of the court.
- baseline stripe
informal phrase for the painted line in tennis
- back line
general term used for any line at the back of a court
- endline
preferred term in basketball for the same line
- sideline
the line running along the long side of the court instead of the short end
- service line
in tennis, a forward line that the baseline is contrasted with
文法句型
on the baseline
behind the baseline
用法筆記
Use this sense only for the painted line itself. The strip of dirt that a baseball runner travels on is more often called a 'basepath' in everyday speech.