compendium

[ kuhm-pen-dee-uhm ]
/ kəmˈpɛn di əm /
SEE 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.

QUIZZES

HEED THE VOX POPULI, AND TAKE THIS WORD OF THE DAY QUIZ!

Test your memory on these verbal firecrackers from the week of June 29 to July 5!
Question 1 of 7
anchorite
a granular metamorphic rock.
a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.
a hobble or fetter for a horse or other animal.
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT
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

Words nearby compendium

compeer, compel, compellation, compelling, compendious, compendium, compensable, compensate, compensated acidosis, compensated alkalosis, compensated grade
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to compendium

sketch, essence, abstract, manual, brief, summary, syllabus, survey, conspectus, overview, handbook, epitome, guide, digest, pandect

Example sentences from the Web for compendium

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