- a variation of catalog.
catalogue
Britishnoun
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a complete, usually alphabetical list of items, often with notes giving details
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a book, usually illustrated, containing details of items for sale, esp as used by mail-order companies
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a list of all the books or resources of a library
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a publication issued by a university, college, etc, listing courses offered, regulations, services, etc
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a list of wool lots prepared for auction
verb
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to compile a catalogue of (a library)
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to add (books, items, etc) to an existing catalogue
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of catalogue
C15: from Late Latin catalogus, from Greek katalogos, from katalegein to list, from kata- completely + legein to collect
Explanation
A catalogue is a list of things. Those glossy booklets from your favorite clothing shops that fill your mailbox are catalogues, and so is that online list you consult to find a book at the library. A catalogue — also spelled catalog — can be a list of anything, arranged in some order, and when you list things, you catalogue them. If you're particularly peeved at your brother, you might catalogue for him every annoying thing he's done lately. If you've ever worked in a library, you may have been assigned to catalogue new books, or, at your office, you might catalogue all the printers, listing the make and model of each one.
Vocabulary lists containing catalogue
Break It Down: Cata
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Latin Love, Vol II: cadere
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Churchill's "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat" speech (1940)
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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.
Best known for their tracks Firestarter and Breathe, The Prodigy will take to the stage on the Saturday night and are expected to play songs from their catalogue spanning 35 years.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
My search turned up more than 360 glacier seismic events, most of which are not yet included in any earthquake catalogue.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
Without her example, would Taylor Swift have stood up to the hedge funds who bought her back catalogue, re-recording her biggest hits to rob them of royalties?
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Customers love the firm's massive catalogue of ultra-cheap items, from $8 sundresses to $2 bracelets, at a time when inflation has shrunk purchasing power around the world.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Students flock around someone short and bald, dressed in a navy blue blazer that seems right out of a catalogue.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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.
