catalog
Americannoun
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a list or record, as of items for sale or courses at a university, systematically arranged and often including descriptive material.
a stamp catalog.
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something that contains such a list or record, as a book, leaflet, or file.
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a list of the contents of a library or a group of libraries, arranged according to any of various systems.
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any list or record.
a catalog of complaints.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to produce a catalog.
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to have a specified price as listed in a catalog.
This model catalogs for $49.95.
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to offer merchandise in a mail-order catalog.
adjective
Usage
What does catalog mean? A catalog is a list or record of items. It is sometimes spelled catalogue.It commonly refers to a list of things being offered, such as items for sale or courses at a school. The point of such a catalog is typically to arrange the information in an orderly way—often with descriptions—so that the items can be easily found.The word often refers to a printed copy of the list, especially in the context of items available for purchase from a particular company.Catalog can also be used to refer to a collection of works, such as by a particular artist, as in I love every album in her catalog.A card catalog is a file containing information about the books and other materials held in a library. Card catalogs were once commonly physical cabinets of drawers containing cards but now often exist as online catalogs.Sometimes, catalog is used in a very general way as another way of saying list, as in a catalog of complaints.Catalog can also be used as a verb meaning to record items with a list, as in Please catalog all of the new titles.Example: The course catalog lists all of the classes that are available to take.
Related Words
See list 1.
Other Word Forms
- cataloger noun
- catalogic adjective
- catalogical adjective
- catalogist noun
- catalogistic adjective
- cataloguer noun
- cataloguist noun
- miscatalog verb (used with object)
- miscatalogue verb (used with object)
- noncatalog adjective
- noncatalogue adjective
- recatalog verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of catalog
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English cataloge, from Late Latin catalogus, from Greek katálogos “a register” (akin to katalégein “to count up”), equivalent to kata- “down, against, back” + -logos reckoning; cata-
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Records, which boasts a renowned jazz catalog, featuring releases from Max Roach, Art Blakey, Gil Evans and perhaps most notably, John Coltrane.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026
To investigate this possibility, researchers compiled and analyzed an exceptionally precise catalog of stars using observations from the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite.
From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026
As for those less inclined to submit to some digital catalog call, there are and have always been chatrooms, forums, and online gaming communities enabling like-minded people to gather without meeting in the flesh.
From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026
Rather than competing purely on standardized catalog components, Forgent works with customers early in the design process to build integrated power “powertrains” tailored to complex data-center or grid applications.
From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026
“This is only my school while the dig goes on. The minute my mom runs out of dinosaur bones to catalog, I’m history.”
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
