compendium

[ kuhm-pen-dee-uhm ]

/ kəmˈpɛn di əm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR compendium ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Nearby words

compeer, compel, compellation, compelling, compendious, compendium, compensable, compensate, compensated acidosis, compensated alkalosis, compensated grade

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

SYNONYMS FOR compendium

1 survey, digest, conspectus.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR compendium ON THESAURUS.COM

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

Examples from the Web for compendium

Ultimately, though, it feels like more of a compendium piece than a fully formed documentary.
Catch Him If You Can: Reliving Banksy’s New York Invasion|Alex Suskind|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They Came Together is a compendium of every romcom cliché known to man.
The Romantic Comedy Is Dead|Andrew Romano|July 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Scarfe cartoon would comfortably fit in any compendium of such grotesqueries.
A 10-Point Guide To Anti-Semitism And Its Perception|Mark Gardner|February 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
(Tobin contents himself with offering one link in his entire piece, which takes you a compendium of all of Steinfels's work).
Jewish Sharptonism, Part 17|Peter Beinart|September 20, 2012|DAILY BEAST

A compendium of literary parodies—some loving, some devastating—on the subject of Christmas.
Twelve Unusual Christmas Reads|Stefan Beck|December 25, 2011|DAILY BEAST
He calls his book a compendium extracted from all authors and the practice of the professors, and edited only by himself.
Gilbertus Anglicus|Henry Ebenezer Handerson
A compendium of gymnastics, it increases strength and activity, dexterity, and rapidity of movement.
The Life of Sir Richard Burton|Thomas Wright
The present work is not a compendium of astronomy or an outline course of popular reading in that science.
A Text-Book of Astronomy|George C. Comstock
Fortunately this young girl had thus a compendium of all literature, and she is coming out all right.
The American Country Girl|Martha Foote Crow
Also a compendium of those sanitary principles on which the attainment and preservation of health depends.
Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 126, March 27, 1852|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

Word Origin and History for compendium

compendium

1580s, from Latin compendium "a shortening, saving," literally "that which is weighed together," from compendere "to weigh together," from com- "together" (see com-) + pendere "to weigh" (see pendant). Borrowed earlier as compendi (mid-15c.).

compendium

noun, plural com·pen·di·ums, com·pen·di·a [kuhm-pen-dee-uh] /kəmˈpɛn di ə/.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of compendium

Examples from the Web for compendium

British Dictionary definitions for compendium

compendium

noun plural -diums or -dia (-dɪə)

Word Origin for compendium

Word Origin and History for compendium

compendium