Standard Lemma guide

pipeline

noun · verb · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈpaɪpˌlaɪn/
  • CMU ARPABET: P AY1 P L AY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A conduit made of pipes used to convey water, gas or petroleum, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Meronyms: pipe, piping, pipework
  • An oil pipeline has been opened from the Caspian Sea.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A channel (either physical or logical) by which information is transmitted sequentially (that is, the first information in is the first information out).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 3D images are rendered using the graphics pipeline.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A system or process through which something is conducted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Examples

  • A new version of the software is in the pipeline, but has not been rolled out.
  • April 19 2002, Scott Tobias, AV Club Fightvillehttp://www.avclub.com/articles/fightville,72589/ The gym’s proprietor, “Crazy” Tim Credeur, heads up the Gladiator Academy, which serves as a pipeline for amateur MMA fighters to move up the ranks, though few of them do.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A widely observed pattern of development in personal interests, circumstances, or opinions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Examples

  • Many who grew up in foster homes in the county have fallen victim to the foster-care-to-homelessness pipeline.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A continuous, contributing source of benefits, talent, or innovation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The inside of a wave that a surfer is riding, when the wave has started closing over it.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports, surfing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To design (a microchip etc.) so that processing takes place in efficient stages, the output of each stage being fed as input to the next.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To convey by a system of pipes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To lay a system of pipes through.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

a pipe used to transport liquids or gases

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a pipeline runs from the wells to the seaport

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: line

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pipe, pipage, piping

Narrower terms: gas line, oil pipeline, Alaskan pipeline, trans-Alaska pipeline

11

noun

Meaning 11

gossip spread by spoken communication

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the news of their affair was spread by word of mouth

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grapevine, word of mouth

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: gossip, comment, scuttlebutt

History

Etymology

From pipe + line.

Across languages

Translations

112 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: pyplyn — conduit made of pipes
  • Arabic: خَطّ أَنَابِيب (ḵaṭṭ ʔanābīb) — conduit made of pipes
  • Armenian: խողովակաշար (xoġovakašar) — conduit made of pipes
  • Armenian: նավթամուղ (navtʻamuġ) — conduit made of pipes
  • Armenian: գազամուղ (gazamuġ) — conduit made of pipes
  • Armenian: ջրամուղ (ǰramuġ) — conduit made of pipes
  • Azerbaijani: boru kəməri — conduit made of pipes
  • Azerbaijani: neft kəməri — conduit made of pipes
  • Azerbaijani: qaz kəməri — conduit made of pipes
  • Azerbaijani: su kəməri — conduit made of pipes
  • Belarusian: трубаправо́д (trubapravód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Belarusian: нафтаправо́д (naftapravód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Belarusian: газапрово́д (hazaprovód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Belarusian: вадаправо́д (vadapravód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Bulgarian: тръбопрово́д (trǎboprovód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Catalan: oleoducte — conduit made of pipes
  • Catalan: canonada — conduit made of pipes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 管道 (guǎndào) — conduit made of pipes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 管線 /管线 (guǎnxiàn) — conduit made of pipes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 輸送管 /输送管 — conduit made of pipes
  • Czech: potrubí — conduit made of pipes
  • Danish: rørledning — conduit made of pipes
  • Danish: olieledning — conduit made of pipes
  • Dutch: pijpleiding — conduit made of pipes
  • Dutch: pijplijn — conduit made of pipes
  • Estonian: torujuhe — conduit made of pipes
  • Finnish: johto — conduit made of pipes
  • Finnish: putki — conduit made of pipes
  • Finnish: putkisto — conduit made of pipes
  • French: pipeline — conduit made of pipes
  • Georgian: მილსადენი (milsadeni) — conduit made of pipes
  • German: Pipeline — conduit made of pipes
  • German: Rohrleitung — conduit made of pipes
  • Greek: αγωγός (agogós) — conduit made of pipes
  • Hindi: पाइपलाइन (pāiplāin) — conduit made of pipes
  • Hungarian: csővezeték — conduit made of pipes
  • Hungarian: -vezeték — conduit made of pipes
  • Japanese: パイプライン (paipurain) — conduit made of pipes
  • Kazakh: құбыр желісі (qūbyr jelısı) — conduit made of pipes
  • Kazakh: құбыржол (qūbyrjol) — conduit made of pipes
  • Korean: 관로 (gwallo) — conduit made of pipes
  • Korean: 파이프라인 (paipeurain) — conduit made of pipes
  • Korean: 배관 (baegwan) — conduit made of pipes
  • Kyrgyz: трубопровод (truboprovod) — conduit made of pipes
  • Kyrgyz: кубур өткөргүч (kubur ötkörgüc) — conduit made of pipes
  • Kyrgyz: кубур түтүк (kubur tütük) — conduit made of pipes
  • Latvian: cauruļvads — conduit made of pipes
  • Latvian: naftas vads — conduit made of pipes
  • Latvian: gāzes vads — conduit made of pipes
  • Lithuanian: vamzdynas — conduit made of pipes
  • Macedonian: цевковод (cevkovod) — conduit made of pipes
  • Māori: ngongo kōhinu — conduit made of pipes
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ledning — conduit made of pipes
  • Norwegian Bokmål: rørledning — conduit made of pipes
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: røyrleidning — conduit made of pipes
  • Iranian Persian: خَطِّ لولِه (xatt-e lule) — conduit made of pipes
  • Polish: rurociąg — conduit made of pipes
  • Polish: ropociąg — conduit made of pipes
  • Portuguese: ducto — conduit made of pipes
  • Portuguese: duto — conduit made of pipes
  • Romanian: pipeline — conduit made of pipes
  • Romanian: conductă — conduit made of pipes
  • Russian: трубопрово́д (truboprovód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Russian: нефтепрово́д (nefteprovód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Russian: газопрово́д (gazoprovód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Russian: водопрово́д (vodoprovód) — conduit made of pipes
  • Serbo-Croatian: цевовод — conduit made of pipes
  • Serbo-Croatian: плиновод (gas) — conduit made of pipes
  • Serbo-Croatian: водовод (water) — conduit made of pipes
  • Serbo-Croatian: cevovod — conduit made of pipes
  • Serbo-Croatian: plinovod — conduit made of pipes
  • Serbo-Croatian: vodovod — conduit made of pipes
  • Slovak: potrubie — conduit made of pipes
  • Slovene: cevovod — conduit made of pipes
  • Spanish: oleoducto — conduit made of pipes
  • Spanish: tubería — conduit made of pipes
  • Spanish: gasoducto — conduit made of pipes
  • Swedish: rörledning — conduit made of pipes
  • Tajik: трубопровод (truboprovod) — conduit made of pipes
  • Tajik: қубурҳои нафтгузар (quburho-yi naftguzar) — conduit made of pipes
  • Turkish: boru hattı — conduit made of pipes
  • Ukrainian: трубопрові́д (truboprovíd) — conduit made of pipes
  • Ukrainian: нафтопрові́д (naftoprovíd) — conduit made of pipes
  • Ukrainian: газопрові́д (hazoprovíd) — conduit made of pipes
  • Ukrainian: водопрові́д (vodoprovíd) — conduit made of pipes
  • Urdu: پائِپ لائِن (pāip lāin) — conduit made of pipes
  • Uzbek: truboprovod — conduit made of pipes
  • Belarusian: канве́ер (kanvjéjer) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Bulgarian: информацио́нен кана́л (informaciónen kanál) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 流水線 /流水线 (liúshuǐxiàn) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Finnish: kanava — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Finnish: liukuhihna — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Greek: σωλήνωση (solínosi) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Greek: διοχέτευση (diochétefsi) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Japanese: パイプライン (paipurain) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Korean: 파이프라인 (paipeurain) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Portuguese: pipeline — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Russian: конве́йер (konvéjjer) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Ukrainian: конве́єр (konvéjer) — channel by which information is transmitted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 流程 (liúchéng) — system through which something is conducted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 渠道 (qúdào) — system through which something is conducted
  • Finnish: putki — system through which something is conducted
  • Finnish: liukuhihna — system through which something is conducted
  • Bulgarian: тунел (tunel) — inside of a breaking wave
  • Chinese Mandarin: 管狀波 /管状波 — inside of a breaking wave
  • Chinese Mandarin: 浪管 — inside of a breaking wave
  • Finnish: kanava — inside of a breaking wave
  • Portuguese: tubo — inside of a breaking wave
  • Chinese Mandarin: 輸送 /输送 (shūsòng) — To convey something by a system of pipes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 管道運輸 /管道运输 — To convey something by a system of pipes
  • Finnish: johtaa putkessa — To convey something by a system of pipes
  • Finnish: rakentaa putkisto — To lay a system of pipes through something
Real reading context

pipeline in complete knowledge articles

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners Technology & inventions · Advanced · 14 uses Grangemouth Refinery Places & the world · Advanced · 6 uses Sonat Technology & inventions · Advanced · 6 uses 31st Canadian Parliament People & society · Advanced · 3 uses Figari Reservoir Places & the world · Challenging · 2 uses Schneealpe Science & nature · Challenging · 1 uses