often attributive
1
: a line serving as a basis
especially
: one of known measure or position used (as in surveying or navigation) to calculate or locate something
2
3
: a boundary line at either end of a court (as in tennis or basketball)
4
: a usually initial set of critical observations or data used for comparison or a control
5
: a starting point
the baseline of this discussion
Examples of baseline in a Sentence
The experiment is meant only to provide a baseline for other studies.
any year or event we use as the baseline for the Renaissance is going to be at least somewhat arbitrary
Recent Examples on the Web
Building modular ingestion systems with fallback strategies ensures resilience, while adjusting detection baselines during major events helps teams avoid overreaction.
—
Dr. Chiranjiv Roy, Forbes.com, 25 July 2025
Between 2017 and 2024, the number of days with at least 2 inches of precipitation was 6% higher than the 1986-2016 average and 37% higher than what scientists refer to as the baseline period of 1901-1960.
—Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 24 July 2025
Unfortunately, many people are quite sedentary, but the baseline for human bodies is to be active, Heffron said.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 23 July 2025
To develop a baseline model of normal aging, to compare with what might have occurred during the pandemic years, the researchers used imaging data from 15,334 healthy individuals that had been collected prior to the pandemic.
—Linda Carroll, NBC news, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for baseline
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Dr. Chiranjiv Roy, Forbes.com, 25 July 2025
Between 2017 and 2024, the number of days with at least 2 inches of precipitation was 6% higher than the 1986-2016 average and 37% higher than what scientists refer to as the baseline period of 1901-1960.
—Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 24 July 2025
Unfortunately, many people are quite sedentary, but the baseline for human bodies is to be active, Heffron said.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 23 July 2025
To develop a baseline model of normal aging, to compare with what might have occurred during the pandemic years, the researchers used imaging data from 15,334 healthy individuals that had been collected prior to the pandemic.
—Linda Carroll, NBC news, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for baseline
Cite this Entry
“Baseline.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baseline. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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Medical Definition
baseline
noun
base·line
ˈbā-ˌslīn 
: a set of critical observations or data used for comparison or a control
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