anthology

[an-thol-uh-jee]

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noun, plural an·thol·o·gies.

a book or other collection of selected writings by various authors, usually in the same literary form, of the same period, or on the same subject: an anthology of Elizabethan drama; an anthology of modern philosophy.

a collection of selected writings by one author.

Nearby words

Origin of anthology

1630–40; < Latin anthologia < Greek: collection of poems, literally, gathering of flowers, equivalent to anthológ(os) flower-gathering (antho- antho- + -logos, adj. derivative of légein to pick up, collect) + -ia -ia

Related formsan·tho·log·i·cal

[an-thuh-loj-i-kuh l] /ˌæn θəˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl/, adjectivean·tho·log·i·cal·ly, adverban·thol·o·gist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for anthology

The trend led to a resurgence of anthology television, and renewed interest in The Twilight Zone.
How a War-Weary Vet Created ‘The Twilight Zone’|Rich Goldstein|November 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The court house is now the Anthology Archive and the firehouse is a Chinese community center.
Pryor Dodge's Two-Wheeled Obsession Is Now a Museum of Bike History|Anthony Haden-Guest|September 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In December 2012, Ebenstein launched a Kickstarter for her anthology.
Brooklyn’s Museum of Death: Inside Morbid Anatomy’s House of Intriguing Horrors|Nina Strochlic|July 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
From the start, creator Nic Pizzolatto designed it as an anthology series.
‘True Detective’ Finale Review: Close to Perfection|Andrew Romano|March 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Davis is 97 years old, the only one of the 14 authors with stories in the anthology who is still alive.
The Original Gone Girls: Dorothy Salisbury Davis and Other Forgotten Pioneers of Crime Fiction|Sarah Weinman|August 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Once he told me that he liked a story of mine that he had come across in an anthology.
The Voice of the City|O. Henry
The sixteenth contains that part of the Planudean collection which does not occur in our copy of the Anthology of Cephalas.
Studies of the Greek Poets (Vol II of 2)|John Addington Symonds
The Monthly Anthology was the first distinctly literary journal published in this country.
Unitarianism in America|George Willis Cooke
The composition of this anthology probably extended over several centuries and comprised a period of lively mental growth.
Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3)|Charles Eliot
For these reasons we have admitted few punning epigrams into this anthology, and those only as examples of a faulty kind.
An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams|Pierre Nicole

British Dictionary definitions for anthology

anthology

noun plural -gies

a collection of literary passages or works, esp poems, by various authors

any printed collection of literary pieces, songs, works of art, etc

Derived Formsanthological (ˌænθəˈlɒdʒɪkəl), adjectiveanthologist, noun

Word Origin for anthology

C17: from Medieval Latin anthologia, from Greek, literally: a flower gathering, from anthos flower + legein to collect

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anthology

anthology

1630s, "collection of poetry," from Latin anthologia, from Greek anthologia "collection of small poems and epigrams by several authors," literally "flower-gathering," from anthos "a flower" (see anther) + logia "collection, collecting," from legein "gather" (see lecture (n.)). Modern sense (which emerged in Late Greek) is metaphoric, "flowers" of verse, small poems by various writers gathered together.