colors outside the lines
Ignores the edges
To color outside the lines is to deviate from expectations or conventions, doing things your own way rather than following established rules.
The phrase comes from children's coloring books, where staying within the printed outlines is considered proper technique.
Someone who colors outside the lines may be creative and independent or simply careless: She's always colored outside the lines—that's why her designs are so fresh.
Often used approvingly for nonconformity.
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
- imaginationFaculty for forming ideas
- originalityNovel creative quality
- creative freedomLiberty in artistic expression
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
break the rules · self-expression · artistic license · dissent · rebel without a cause · authenticity · free spirit · crayon · color theory · artistry · blank canvas · liberation · maverick · wild child · ingenuity · counterculture · experimentation · uniqueness
colors outside the linestoes the line
Adheres to expectations
colors inside the lines · conforms · falls in line · stays in one's lane · dots the i's and crosses the t's
colors outside the linesunimaginative
Lacking creative originality
uncreative · derivative · formulaic · cookie-cutter · paint-by-numbers
colors, colored, coloring, colorful, colorless, coloration, discolor, discolored, multicolored