compendium

American  

[kuhm-pen-dee-uhm] / kəmˈpɛn di əm /

Also compend

noun

• compendiums,
  plural
• compendia
  plural

1. a brief treatment or account of a subject, especially an extensive subject; concise treatise.

   a compendium of medicine.

   Synonyms:

   conspectus, digest, survey

2. a summary, epitome, or abridgment.

3. a full list or inventory.

   a compendium of their complaints.

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compendium British  

/ kəmˈpɛndɪəm /

noun

1. a book containing a collection of useful hints

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

3. a concise but comprehensive summary of a larger work

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• compendia
  plural
• compendiums
  plural

Etymology

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

Explanation

When you search an online encyclopedia, you are searching a compendium of information on just about everything. A compendium is a comprehensive collection of something. You can also use the word compendium to describe a collection of written works. If you gather all of the anecdotes your parents and grandparents have told you into a book, you'll have created a compendium of family stories. The plural of compendium is either compendiums or compendia.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

compendium compendia compendiums

“Bury Me Already” throws a sudden cross-country move, a pregnancy, a pandemic and a few other life-changing events into the mix in her latest compendium of long-form stories, stick-figure sketches, and three-panel gags.

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

In the 1790s, the Scottish artist James Wales employed both men to depict ancient Indian architecture for a compendium of Indian landscapes, “Oriental Scenery,” published 1795-1807/8.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

About 65,000 people were in ICE detention as of 30 November 2025, according to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse's Immigration project, a compendium of government data from Syracuse University.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026

Those writings, discovered in her New York City apartment after she died in her Alabama hometown nine years ago, have been gathered into the welcome hybrid compendium “The Land of Sweet Forever.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025

The English Dancing Master, John Playford’s compendium of catchy regional folk songs and dances, was the most successful musical publication of Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

The sequel is tentatively titled “Filthy Healthy Cravings”: a compromise, perhaps, between recent salad-centric compendia and the permissive indulgence of Chrissy Teigen’s cookbooks.

From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2018

“Legal compendia are among the foundational reference works in every civilization.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 17, 2016

They should have, he argues, and to demonstrate that he is perfectly serious, Fussell goes through the Handbook, with meticulous care before concluding that it is a "compendia of good sense".

From The Guardian ● May 24, 2012

Thank Naxos Records for its compendia of Barber’s orchestral music and of Schuman’s symphonies, both timed to coincide with the centenaries.

From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2011

What dryly philosophical compendia are the notes of Machiavelli upon the French Court and Cesare Borgia!

From Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) The Age of the Despots by John Addington Symonds

The effect of these two compendiums is to take us back to Wilde himself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

That’s because the company’s giant color compendiums originate at least in part from ornithology and natural history.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 7, 2023

Both are compendiums of artful dodging and febrile rhetoric, which is what corporate lawyers produce for a living.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2023

Others serve as whimsical compendiums: Fick lists Mongolia’s five domesticated animals; documents fellow passengers’ fuzzy-slippered train wear; and ranks the quality of second-class dining cars by country.

From Washington Post ● May 19, 2022

Our present compendiums are meant for scholars rather than people.

From The Crow's Nest by Clarence Day