outline vs contour

outline and contour both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
outline	Yes	No	Yes	No
contour	Yes	No	Yes	No

As verbs, contour is a hyponym of outline; that is, contour is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than outline:

Other hyponyms of outline include lipstick.

outline (noun)	contour (noun)
a schematic or preliminary plan	any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline)
a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument or theory	a feature (or the order or arrangement of features) of anything having a complex structure
the line that appears to bound an object	a line drawn on a map connecting points of equal height

outline (verb)	contour (verb)
describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of	form the contours of
trace the shape of
draw up an outline or sketch for something