compendium

[ kuhm-pen-dee-uhm ]

/ kəmˈpɛn di əm /

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noun, plural com·pen·di·ums, com·pen·di·a

[kuhm-pen-dee-uh]. /kəmˈpɛn di ə/.

a brief treatment or account of a subject, especially an extensive subject; concise treatise: a compendium of medicine.

a summary, epitome, or abridgment.

a full list or inventory: a compendium of their complaints.

OTHER WORDS FOR compendium

1 survey, digest, conspectus.

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Also com·pend

[kom-pend]. /ˈkɒm pɛnd/.

Origin of compendium

1575–85; <Latin: gain, saving, shortcut, abridgment, equivalent to com-com- + pend- (stem of pendere to cause to hang down, weigh) + -ium-ium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use compendium in a sentence

How to Be Inappropriateby Daniel Nester A TMI compendia of inappropriate and humorous nonfiction.
This Week's Hot Reads|The Daily Beast|November 2, 2009|DAILY BEAST
From the 1780s on, cups with brass syringes began to appear in compendia of instruments.
Bloodletting Instruments in the National Museum of History and Technology|Audrey Davis
Ibi mare increscens nunc eructat: nunc in sinum suum revolutum, navium fert compendia, commercia plurimorum.
Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2)|Dawson Turner
There is a large number of small treatises and compendia of Florentine history of the guide-book description.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5|Various

I am sure it would not, as they are no men, but incarnate compendia, abstractions made concrete.
Thoughts Out of Season (Part II)|Friedrich Nietzsche
The second volume contains minor works which are the barest compendia of facts taken from well-known sources.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4|Various

British Dictionary definitions for compendium

compendium

/ (kəmˈpɛndɪəm) /

noun plural -diums or -dia (-dɪə)

British a book containing a collection of useful hints

British a selection, esp of different games or other objects in one container

a concise but comprehensive summary of a larger work

Word Origin for compendium

C16: from Latin: a saving, literally: something weighed, from pendere to weigh

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

compendium

OTHER WORDS FOR compendium

Origin of compendium

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How to use compendium in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for compendium

Word Origin for compendium