colour outside the lines

A form of color outside the lines — To behave in creative or unconventional ways, to break the rules.

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Meanings

verbcolour outside the lines (third-person singular simple present colours outside the lines, present participle colouring outside the lines, simple past and past participle coloured outside the lines)

present singular third person colours outside the lines · participle present colouring outside the lines · participle past coloured outside the lines · past coloured outside the lines

  1. alternativeAlternative form of color outside the lines.

    At Southwest we don't want clones – everyone is expected to colour outside the lines.

    2007, John Thompson, Bill Bolton, Entrepreneurs, →ISBN, page 185
    2 more examples

    Now individuals and teams need to be willing to colour outside the lines and not work only from inside a box, a silo, a discipline, and so on.

    2008, Tony Ghaye, Developing the Reflective Healthcare Team, →ISBN, page 89

    Perhaps she should colour outside the lines more often. Not that icecream was much of a step over the lines.

    2015, Shona Husk, Out Of Rhythm, →ISBN

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with colour outside the lines

linesfinesHeinzconfinesninesdinessineskinesbines
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

colour outside the lines. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colour%20outside%20the%20lines

MLA

“colour outside the lines.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colour%20outside%20the%20lines. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “colour outside the lines,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colour%20outside%20the%20lines.

Source: colour outside the lines on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.