diagram

UK/ˈdaɪ.ə.ɡɹæm/US/ˈdaɪ.ə.ɡɹæm/

nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,487 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: diagrams

A diagram is a simple drawing that explains how something works. Lines, labels, and nothing that is not needed.

The point is clarity rather than accuracy of appearance, which is why a wiring diagram looks nothing like the wires and a London Underground map is a diagram rather than a map. Instructions and textbooks depend on them. The adjective is diagrammatic, meaning simplified in that way. A flow diagram, a circuit diagram and a Venn diagram are all standard types with their own conventions.

Definitions of diagram

1noundiagramA simplified drawing showing how something works or is arranged.B1+
“There is a diagram on the back of the box.”

Where it comes from

French
diagramme
English, today
diagram

From French diagramme. From French diagramme, from Italian diagramma, from Ancient Greek διάγραμμα.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 11 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

diagram in the wild

In theoretical physics, a Feynman diagram is a pictorial representation of the mathematical expressions describing the behavior and interaction of subatomic particles.
Feynman diagram
The scheme is named after American physicist Richard Feynman, who introduced the diagrams in 1948.
Feynman diagram
A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a designed representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures.
Schematic
A Venn diagram uses simple closed curves on a plane to represent sets.
Venn diagram
A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process.
Flowchart

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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