blueprint

noun

blue·​print ˈblü-ˌprint 

plural blueprints

1

: a photographic print in white on a bright blue ground or blue on a white ground used especially for copying maps, mechanical drawings, and architects' plans

2

: something or someone resembling a blueprint (as in serving as a model or providing guidance)

… few foundations have taken a similar [investing] route, so there was no blueprint to follow.

—Paul Sullivan

He was an anomaly to the rap world when he arrived, but today he is the blueprint for a generation.

—Jeff Ihaza

especially : a detailed plan or program of action

a blueprint for success

blueprint transitive verb

blueprinted; blueprinting; blueprints

It was not something blueprinted from the start or based on a French bistro archetype; it's a restaurant that has grown and evolved …

—Ian McNulty

Synonyms

• arrangement
• design
• game
• game plan
• ground plan
• master plan
• plan
• program
• project
• road map
• scheme
• strategy
• system

Examples of blueprint in a Sentence

a blueprint for reforming the public school system

an ambitious young man with a remarkably detailed blueprint for becoming a millionaire by the age of 25

Recent Examples on the Web

And Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term, calls for the office’s outright elimination. —Gabriel Thompson, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2024

The policy blueprint calls for replacing civil service government employees with partisan appointees and eliminating the Department of Education, among other proposals. —Alison Dirr, Journal Sentinel, 6 Sep. 2024

What Federici proposes is less a blueprint for a utopian alternative society than an escape route from the solitary grind of getting by. —Hazlitt, 4 Sep. 2024

As global systems continue to fail humanity and all life on Earth, the journey taken by trans people – and all peoples who have been oppressed – is a blueprint of possibility. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 4 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

blueprint

1 of 2 noun

blue·​print

ˈblü-ˌprint

1

: a photographic print made with white lines on a blue background and used especially for copying mechanical drawings, maps, and architects' plans

2

: a detailed plan or program of action

blueprint

2 of 2 verb

: to make a blueprint of or for