baseline

baseline — noun

1. a starting level or set of early measurements that you record first, so that lat

1.nounB2
Definition

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.

Example

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

Common collocations
  • establish a baseline
  • set a baseline
  • baseline data
  • baseline figures
  • above/below the baseline
  • compare against the baseline
Synonyms
  • 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

Antonyms
  • target

    the level you aim to reach, contrasted with the level you start from

  • peak

    the highest later value, contrasted with the early reference value

Grammar Patterns

a baseline for sth

set a baseline

above/below the baseline

Usage Note

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'.

Common Mistakes

We need to compare these numbers with a baseline number.
We need to compare these numbers against the baseline.
the typical preposition is 'against', not 'with'.

2. in tennis or basketball, the painted line at each end of the court that marks wh

2.nounB2
Definition

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.

Example

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

Common collocations
  • stand on the baseline
  • behind the baseline
  • land on the baseline
  • rally from the baseline
  • down the baseline
Synonyms
  • 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

Antonyms
  • 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

Grammar Patterns

on the baseline

behind the baseline

Usage Note

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.

Common Mistakes

The runner stepped off the baseline and was tagged out, but the ball was still in the dirt.
The runner stepped off the basepath and was tagged out.
in baseball, the running surface is the basepath; baseline names the painted line itself.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name something you compare other measurements against, but they differ in flavour. A baseline is the starting state — the values you write down before anything changes, so you can later see what moved. A benchmark is a target or standard of excellence: companies benchmark their service against the best in the industry. A yardstick is a softer, more general standard for judging quality, often qualitative ('honesty as a yardstick of leadership'). A reference point is the most neutral of the four — any agreed marker that helps you orient. So a doctor sets a baseline blood pressure on day one, hopes the patient will hit the benchmark of 120/80, and uses the original reading as a reference point throughout treatment.

baseline ↗benchmark ↗yardstickreference point

Common collocations

Nouns

  • baseline data
  • baseline figures
  • baseline measurement
  • baseline study
  • baseline survey

Adverbs

  • well above
  • well below
  • slightly above
  • consistently above

Phrases

  • establish a baseline
  • set a baseline
  • compared with the baseline
  • return to baseline

Prepositions

  • from the baseline
  • against the baseline
  • above the baseline
  • below the baseline
  • on the baseline

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Formed in English in the early 1700s by joining 'base' (the lower part or starting point of something) with 'line'. It first appeared in surveying, where the baseline was the carefully measured straight line from which other distances and angles were calculated. From there it spread to sports — the line at the back of tennis and basketball courts, and the running lines in baseball — and in the 20th century it took on its modern figurative sense of any starting set of measurements used for comparison.