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.
Synonym Usage
See list 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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catalogernoun
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catalogistnoun
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cataloguernoun
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cataloguistnoun
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miscatalogverb (used with object)
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miscatalogueverb (used with object)
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recatalogverb (used with object)
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catalogicadjective
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catalogicaladjective
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catalogisticadjective
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noncatalogadjective
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noncatalogueadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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; see cata-
Explanation
A catalog is a book that lists many things: the most common type of catalog is for a store. A catalog is an organized list that appears in book or pamphlet form. The Sears catalog tells you all the things you can buy at Sears, along with pictures of the items and what they cost. But you can also use catalog to mean any kind of listing. In an argument, you might say, "Why don't you just make a catalog of all my faults!" When you're making a catalog of any kind, you're cataloging.
Vocabulary lists containing catalog
ESL Library Vocabulary
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Researching Strategies and Using the Library
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Put It This Way: Synonyms for "Describe"
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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.
See Examples For:
The takeover battle began last year, when streaming giant Netflix and Paramount went to war over Warner Bros. and its prized back catalog.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
When the animated “Avatar” quietly showed up in Netflix’s catalog in 2020, it quickly rose to the top of the streamer’s list of most popular shows.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Because of this cycle, the validated gravitational wave catalog, including source properties and other measurements, is typically updated and shared with the scientific community about every six months.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
I wrote about Frankie Valli a few years ago, and he and Bob Gaudio seemed eager to have this company Primary Wave out there finding ways to — Monetize the catalog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
At the end of the day, Tansy asked how many of us had the Monkey Ward catalog at home.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Compulsion Games, known for "South of Midnight" and Double Fine Productions, maker of "Psychonauts," will become independent, retaining their intellectual property and game catalogs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Just as 17th century artists drew inspiration from the fashion of their day — often creating paintings that served as catalogs of current styles — I do the same,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
People forget what shopping looked like before Amazon: flipping through glossy catalogs, mailing or phoning in orders and waiting weeks for delivery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
The team has also released interactive catalogs and tools so other scientists can explore the results and identify promising targets for follow-up observations using ground-based telescopes and future missions such as ESA's PLATO.
From Science Daily ● May 3, 2026
She had what the catalogs call "a mature figure," and she was not at all self-conscious about it or the starbursts of tiny blue veins on both her inner and outer thighs.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
Crawling into my hotel bed that evening, I cataloged the damage.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
We know a lot about the star’s library — when she died in 1962, she owned more than 400 books, diligently cataloged and auctioned in 1999.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
Sotheby’s old York Avenue space was designed to be a one-stop-shop for art, so consigned pieces arrived in crates, were photographed and cataloged, then cleaned and reframed if needed—and eventually sold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
He cataloged a thousand new nebulae and clusters of stars.
From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2025
KGB observers bugged CIA agents' phones and cataloged their daily routines.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Buyers and sellers are seeing the biggest differences compared with last year in West Palm Beach, which saw a near-40% increase in pending sales, Redfin data cataloging the nation’s largest metropolitan areas show.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
His repeated attempts to flex expensive restaurant bills and hardman tough talk land like a waterlogged handkerchief after he’s spent song after song cataloging all the specific ways we’ve all hurt his feelings.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
He left 15 years ago and has spent much of the time since cataloging how he thought the institution was going astray.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
In 2013, von Konrat led a team of botanists and volunteers to survey the region, cataloging grasses, trees, and mosses in search of a location that matched the plant material found on the shoes.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 1, 2026
Slowly I head for home, counting the lines and cataloging all the loud sounds my earmuffs don’t really muffle: cab honks, bus brakes, slammed doors.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
Three hundred years later, Gray’s Anatomy by Henry Gray reinforced the impression that the body had finally been catalogued, indexed and neatly organized – a system mapped and fully explained.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026
Sloth jaws and sabertooth fangs and a truly astonishing amount of ancient vertebrae — all of it will be swaddled, catalogued and crated for the next two years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
NPR reviewed the unique serial numbers on the pages of the Epstein files in their investigation, which showed that many pages catalogued by the DOJ are not shared publicly.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
Later historians described this engraving and, despite having never seen the painting, catalogued its existence.
From Barron's ● Nov. 30, 2025
There are scores and scores of his versions scattered about the room, myriad trunks of him, thistling branches, specied and catalogued, a thousand stills of him from every possible angle.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Buyers and sellers are seeing the biggest differences compared with last year in West Palm Beach, which saw a near-40% increase in pending sales, Redfin data cataloguing the nation’s largest metropolitan areas show.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
“The cataloguing and photographing of the notebook was a valid part of the inventory search,” he wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
A graduate program in archival science at Pratt helped him gather focus, while turning him on to the infinite history of sound data and cataloguing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025
That cataloguing is indispensable, but the words and concepts we use for it matter.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2025
He’d yell hi, then clack away for a few minutes, while I took out my notebook and strolled through the place, playing writer and cataloguing the apartment’s meager contents.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
