miscellany
Americannoun
plural
miscellanies-
a miscellaneous collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items.
-
a miscellaneous collection of literary compositions or pieces by several authors, dealing with various topics, assembled in a volume or book.
- Synonyms:
- anthology
-
miscellanies, a miscellaneous collection of articles or entries, as in a book.
noun
-
a mixed assortment of items
-
(sometimes plural) a miscellaneous collection of essays, poems, etc, by different authors in one volume
Etymology
Origin of miscellany
First recorded in 1590–1600; Anglicized variant of miscellanea
Explanation
Miscellany is a collection of different sorts of things. If organization is not one of your strong points, your purse may contain a miscellany of surprising items. Miscellany comes from the Latin for "mix," and a miscellany is a mixture of things. If you don't clean your car out very often, there may be a miscellany of relics in the backseat: a flip flop left over from your last trip to the beach, a few stale French fries, your last report card, and maybe a magazine or two.
Vocabulary lists containing miscellany
"How It Feels to Be Colored Me"
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Intermediate, List 6
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Unit 1, Week 3
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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.
The word “anthology” comes from the Greek for “gathering of flowers”—that is, a miscellany.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
The book isn’t exhaustive but instead a curated miscellany of non-sequiturs and the kind of dinner-party lore Seu delights in.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025
The sonnet sits in the miscellany alongside "politically charged" works from the 1640s - the decade of the English Civil War, fought between Royalists and Parliamentarians.
From BBC • Mar. 4, 2025
The House released a negotiated short-term government funding bill this week, and a number of year-end priorities on health care, agriculture, and other miscellany were tacked on.
From Slate • Dec. 21, 2024
I stood behind him, but could not see Bono’s miscellany.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
