through line

noun

variants or throughline

ˈthrü-ˌlīn 

or less commonly through-line

: a common or consistent element or theme shared by items in a series or by parts of a whole

But Kent's latest nonetheless reveals a fascinating through line in her work, which centers on, as she puts it, "disrespect for the feminine"—and the inciting power of female rage.

—Rachel Handler

Vang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, and came to the United States in the late 1980s. For him and his family, food was the throughline keeping them connected to their culture, wherever they were.

—Sharyn Jackson

Perverse moments like these are a throughline in Decker's work. The Texas native specializes in "bad" desires—awkward wants that tend to go unexpressed, or which otherwise seem too compromising to confess even to oneself.

—K. Austin Collins

Unlike Tokyo's great shopping thoroughfares, which have a certain logical through-line (if not aesthetic, at least socioeconomic), Osaka's arcades are mismatched, high-low jumbles of retail diversions.

—Simon Dumenco

Examples of through line in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Looking back, the through line was learning to understand unseen systems and building machines that could navigate them. —Big Think, 28 Oct. 2025

The through line in everything Leslie talks about—the gym for kids, the financial advice, the beauty routines, the refusal to be boxed in—is authenticity. —Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 14 Oct. 2025

Another thing that stands out in the series is its voiceover, which can be highly ironic or poetic and but also draws through lines from the present and future. —John Hopewell, Variety, 14 Oct. 2025

Fitting to an event called the Warrior Awards, advocacy and fighting for a more just music business was the through line of much of the night. —Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 13 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1936, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for through line

• affine
• airline
• align
• aline
• assign
• baseline
• beamline
• benign
• bloodline
• bovine
• byline
• canine