Synonyms for compendium
- noun
Most common
collection summary encyclopedia abridgment US brief synopsis syllabus conspectus
All synonyms
Noun
summary, collection, abridgment US, abridgement UK, encyclopedia, encyclopaedia UK, abstract, brief, synopsis, syllabus, digest, epitome, sum, conspectus, compend, cyclopedia US, cyclopædia UK, breviary, outline, abbreviation
Definitions
- n. 1
A short, complete summary; an abstract.
Related words
- Word family
- compendial compendious
Forms
- Plural
- compendiums → summaries, collections, abridgments, encyclopedias…
Choose the right word
An epitome, compend, or compendium is a condensed view of a subject, whether derived from a previous publication or not. We may have an epitome of religion, a compendium of English literature, but not an abridgment.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- collection He couldn't calculate the price of the collection.
- summary I'm not expecting details; just a summary is fine.
- encyclopedia Wikipedia is the best encyclopedia on the Internet.
- brief It was a long letter, but in brief, he said, "No."
- synopsis Why didn't you provide a synopsis?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| compendium | falling | |
| collection | steady | |
| summary | falling | |
| encyclopedia | steady | |
| abridgment | falling | |
| brief | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- sum1
- 5 letters
- brief1
- 6 letters
- digest2
- 7 letters
- summary3, outline2, epitome4, compend
- 8 letters
- abstract2, synopsis3, syllabus3, breviary
- 10 letters
- collection3, cyclopedia, abridgment, conspectus
- 11 letters
- abridgement3
- 12 letters
- encyclopedia6, abbreviation5
- 13 letters
- encyclopaedia6
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (digest2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- compendium