Learn English – Single word for the timeline of past, present, and future events

phrasessingle-word-requests

I know that a timeline of past and possibly present events are simply referred to as a "Timeline of [insert event here]", however, I am struggling to find a word or phrase that encompasses the future as well.

Some possible candidates that come to mind are:

  • Scope
  • Purview of events
  • Span

But I feel that none of these are really that clear or accurate.

Best Answer

Timeline is actually the right word here!

From the Cambridge Dictionary definition we can see that there are several usages of the word:

Timeline

  • a line that shows the time and the order in which events have happened

  • a plan that shows how long something will take or when things will happen

As you can see, this word can encompass both the past and future. It is perfectly valid to put past and future events onto a single timeline - this is often done using demarcation to clearly show what is the 'future' at the time of writing.

Powerpoint showing a timeline layout