thumbnail

1 of 2

noun

thumb·​nail ˈthəm-ˌnāl How to pronounce thumbnail (audio)
-ˈnāl
1
: the nail of the thumb
2
: a miniature computer graphic sometimes hyperlinked to a full-size version

thumbnail

2 of 2

adjective

: concise, brief
a thumbnail sketch

Examples of thumbnail in a Sentence

Noun You can see a larger version of the picture by clicking on the thumbnail. Adjective a thumbnail outline of the plot of the novel
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Printing short quotations from books or displaying thumbnails of photographs in search results are considered fair use, for example, as are parodies that use a story’s plot and characters. Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, 29 Feb. 2024 Choose from illustrative thumbnails for Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Lifestyle, Filmatic, and more. PCMAG, 5 Feb. 2024 Wyze Labs, maker of smart home cameras, informed customers who experienced a service outage Friday that 13,000 camera users received video thumbnails of other people's homes, according to an update posted by co-founder Dave Crosby. Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 20 Feb. 2024 About 1,500 users clicked on the tabs showing the other people’s footage, which enlarged the thumbnail and in some cases allowed people to view footage from other users cameras. Jordan Valinsky, CNN, 20 Feb. 2024 The shirt in question is not the one seen in the music video's thumbnail. Brian Anthony Hernandez, Peoplemag, 21 Jan. 2024 Reality Defender, an AI-detection platform that markets its detection models, also ran the Jan. 14 video’s thumbnail and 28 seconds of its audio through AI-detection programs and found the voiceover and parts of the thumbnail were 99% likely to be produced with generative AI tools. Kat Tenbarge, NBC News, 30 Jan. 2024 Those giant thumbnails are ridiculous, as they were scaled for a phone width and are just blown up to fit on a wide-screen foldable. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 13 July 2023 The Preview button for screen savers is now hidden; click the screen saver thumbnail to preview it. Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2023
Adjective
Click on the thumbnail image to see what that looks like. Tom Yulsman, Discover Magazine, 27 Aug. 2018 Between the two fences that separate Reggie’s enclosure from the public is a sign with the thumbnail version of his remarkable journey to the Los Angeles Zoo 15 years ago today. Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2022 What follows is a thumbnail survey of prison museums throughout the United States, selected for their geographic spread; some are widely known, while others are small gems that deserve a closer look. Washington Post, 20 Jan. 2022 So the thumbnail version that gets repeated is that the concept of telework was invented by a guy called Jack Nilles, who was a NASA engineer who’s actually still alive. The Politics Of Everything, The New Republic, 13 Jan. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thumbnail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1604, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1852, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of thumbnail was in 1604

Dictionary Entries Near thumbnail

Cite this Entry

“Thumbnail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thumbnail. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

thumbnail

1 of 2 noun
thumb·​nail ˈthəm-ˌnāl How to pronounce thumbnail (audio)
-ˈnā(ə)l
1
: the nail of the thumb
2
: a miniature computer graphic sometimes connected by a hyperlink to a larger version

thumbnail

2 of 2 adjective
thumb·​nail
ˌthəm-ˌnāl
: brief entry 1
wrote a thumbnail sketch of the poet

More from Merriam-Webster on thumbnail

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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