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schedule

/ˈskedʒuːl//ˈʃedjuːl/·noun
a plan that fixes when each of a series of events or tasks will happen
Fig. 1 — Time is laid out as a long ruled line, notched off in hours, a clock ticking away above it.
01Definition

A schedule pins events to time: it lists what will happen and, crucially, when — the 9:15 train, the Tuesday deadline, the order of a day's tasks laid out along the clock. More than a mere list, it gives each item its own slot, so a schedule can run on time or fall behind. As a verb, to schedule is to set that time. The famous US–UK split in pronunciation ('SKED-jool' versus 'SHED-yool') makes it a favourite listening-test word.

02In use
  • iThe schedule fixes not just the sequence of talks but the exact minute each one begins.
  • iiEach phase of the build has its own schedule, with deadlines no one is allowed to miss.
  • iiiHeavy snow threw the entire train schedule into chaos.
03Collocations
  • a tight schedule
  • ahead of schedule
  • behind schedule
  • on schedule
  • a busy schedule

Family scheduling (noun) · scheduled (adjective) · rescheduling (noun)

04Relations

=timetable, agenda, itinerary, roster, programme

≠improvisation, spontaneity

06TOEFL & IELTS

Prized for the pronunciation split — American 'SKED-jool' versus British 'SHED-yool' — so listen for it in the Listening section. The collocations 'ahead of / behind / on schedule' and 'a tight schedule' move straight into Speaking and Writing. It works as both noun and verb ('the talk is scheduled for noon').

07Asked
Is schedule pronounced 'shed-yool' or 'sked-jool'?
Both are correct — it is the textbook US–UK split. Americans say SKED-jool, the British SHED-yool, and each is standard in its own variety. The history explains the fork: the word came through French, and Britain settled on the soft /ʃ/, while Noah Webster's American dictionaries pushed the hard /sk/ toward its Greek root. Pick your variety's form and hold it; listening tests love this word precisely because both are right.
Is schedule a noun or a verb?
Both, with no change in spelling. The noun is the plan of times (a busy schedule); the verb is the act of fixing them (the talk is scheduled for noon). The family grows from the verb — scheduling, rescheduled, a scheduled flight — and the pronunciation split rides along unchanged: however you say the noun, you say the verb and its offspring the same way.
What do 'ahead of schedule' and 'behind schedule' mean?
They measure progress against the planned timing. Ahead of schedule means earlier than the plan required — the project is running early; behind schedule means later, running late; on schedule means exactly to plan. The scene above is why the phrases work: each task is pinned to a precise mark on the sliding timeline, so being early or late is measurable, not merely a feeling.
What is the difference between a schedule and a timetable?
Overlapping, and split mostly by region. British English reserves timetable for recurring fixed grids — a train timetable, a school timetable — and uses schedule more broadly. American English says schedule for nearly all of it, including transport (the bus schedule). Both pin events to times; timetable just leans toward the repeating, published kind.