Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

outside the box

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.83 in modern English

Syllables: out-side the box
IPA

26

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

2

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

prep_phrase

Beyond the bounds of convention or normal practice.

Example Sentences

"The boss wants some new ideas—it's time to think outside the box."
""THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX". If you have kept your thinking process operating inside the lines and boxes, then you are normal and average, for that is the way your thinking has been programmed. ... Here are nine dots: If you were asked to pick up a pencil and try to touch every dot using four straight lines only, you would try it this way first. It would be incorrect. That's because this configuration is in the shape of a box and we are conditioned to think this way."
"Caine was pretty rough around the edges, though. I wasn't quite on Scratch's level of thinking outside the box, but it was good groundwork for something the rest of the team could wrap their heads around."
"You discourage us from thinking outside the box and doing things our own way!"

Etymology

Unclear. Attested since 1971 (see quotations) with allusion to the nine dots puzzle, where one needs to draw lines outside the perimeter of its nine dots. Earlier related phrases include go outside the dots (1956), step outside the box (1969), and think outside the dots (1970).

Phrases

blue-sky thinking lateral thinking reinvent the wheel

Frequently Paired Words

blue-sky thinking heterodox lateral thinking nonorthogonal reinvent the wheel

Synonyms

laterally out of the box outside of the box

Questions

What does outside the box mean?: Beyond the bounds of convention or normal practice.
Where does outside the box come from?: Unclear. Attested since 1971 (see quotations) with allusion to the nine dots puzzle, where one needs to draw lines outside the perimeter of its nine dots. Earlier related phrases include go outside the dots (1956), step outside the box (1969), and think outside the dots (1970).

How to pronounce outside the box

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “outside the box”.
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