ENGLISH
REFERENCE

compendium

n. countable
C1 Advanced US //kəmˈpɛndiəm// UK //kəmpˈɛndiəm// com·pen·dium

n. a collection of information or facts about a specific subject, usually found in one book. It is a short but complete summary of a larger topic.

n. a concise but comprehensive collection of information or a detailed summary of a particular subject. Often refers to a single-volume work that gathers diverse materials into a systematic arrangement.


SIMPLE

The book is a useful compendium of local history.

CONTEXTUAL

The researcher published a compendium of all known medicinal plants found in the Amazon rainforest.

COMPLEX

This digital archive serves as a vast compendium of 18th-century legal documents, providing scholars with a centralized resource for comparative analysis across different jurisdictions.

Synonyms
Origin

From the Latin compendium (“that which is weighed together; a sparing, a saving, an abbreviation”), from com- (“with”) + pendō (“to weigh”).

Usage

The plural form can be either 'compendiums' or 'compendia'.

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