omnibus

American  

[om-nuh-buhs, -buhs] / ˈɒm nəˌbʌs, -bəs /

noun

• omnibuses,
  plural
• omnibusses
  plural

1. bus.

2. a volume of reprinted works of a single author or of works related in interest or theme.

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adjective

1. pertaining to, including, or dealing with numerous objects or items at once.

   an omnibus bill submitted to a legislature.

omnibus British  

/ -bəs, ˈɒmnɪˌbʌs /

noun

1. a less common word for bus

2. Also called: omnibus volume.  a collection of works by one author or several works on a similar topic, reprinted in one volume

3. Also called: omnibus edition.  a television or radio programme consisting of two or more programmes broadcast earlier in the week

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adjective

1. (prenominal) of, dealing with, or providing for many different things or cases

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• omnibuses
  plural
• omnibusses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of omnibus

1820–30; < French < Latin: for all (dative plural of omnis )

Explanation

An omnibus is another word for a bus, as in a large vehicle carrying lots of passengers. Other names are autobus and coach. This word has bus in it, and that's the main meaning of omnibus. As a book, an omnibus is collection of articles either all on the same subject or written by a single author. An omnibus of Joyce Carol Oates would fill more shelves than all of Shakespeare’s plays. A third meaning is something that covers a lot of different subjects at once, like an omnibus bill that has legislation about gun control, transportation, and parking meters.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

omnibus omnibuses omnibusses

Though omnibus legislation approved last year promised $1 billion in security funding to make the 2028 Games secure, none of that money has arrived in Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

The ESAs were part of an omnibus bill that included provisions to raise teacher pay and extend the state’s literacy reforms to other grades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

The trading records inside the omnibus accounts contain no information about the individuals making the trades.

From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025

"One of the secrets I honestly think, is it's 15 minutes every night and then that big omnibus on a Sunday," he told the BBC's Nick Owen.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025

Cannons boomed from the forts lining the shore while merchants, clerks, clergy, lawyers, and omnibus drivers from Wall Street to the Bowery celebrated.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

The distance between homes and jobs undermined the “walking city” and led to horse-drawn streetcars and omnibuses for urban transportation.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

The clean, quiet electrobus looked set to be stiff competition for the city's lumbering, petrol-guzzling omnibuses.

From Nature ● Sep. 26, 2017

In that pre-automobile era, horses were public animals, seen daily by urbanites as they pulled milk wagons and omnibuses.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2017

Anthologies, omnibuses, whatever you want to call them: Those cinematic conglomerations of disconnected or slightly interwoven stories are what I’m talking about.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 23, 2015

Of course you would not be able to do any actual sailing in London, but I mean the equivalent of sailing, like riding about on the outside of omnibuses at all hours.

From Rich Relatives by Compton MacKenzie

There are no railroad tracks on Broadway below Fourteenth street; the public travel is done by means of omnibusses, or stages, as they are called.

From The Secrets of the Great City by James Dabney McCabe

Stilly! with the horns and songs from omnibusses that carry tourists, and with yells from nymphs and swains disporting themselves in the boats. 

From Angling Sketches by Andrew Lang

The streets resounded with the rattling wheels of omnibusses, cabs and various vehicles, as they bore the gay and fashionable part of the village to the splendid hall.

From Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland by Abigail Stanley Hanna

The means of transportation now at the command of the people are the street railways and the omnibusses, or stages; as they are called.

From The Secrets of the Great City by James Dabney McCabe

He stood hesitating, leisurely inspecting the flashing ranks of vehicles—depot wagons, omnibusses, and motor cars already eddying around a dusty gravel drive centred by the conventional railroad flower bed and fountain.

From The Fighting Chance by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers