MEANING
1. A collection bringing varied writings or information together in a single work.
2. A compact account that covers the main information about a subject or larger work.
Use it for
describing a reference collection drawn from multiple sources; organizing diverse material into one publication; distinguishing a compilation from a single original studyDistinguishes a collected reference work from a compact but broad account; either can support synthesis without constituting primary evidence. Writing functions: Research / Methodology, Synthesis, Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- a compendium of essays
- a compendium of research
- a reference compendium
On the page
The compendium brings together reports that were previously scattered across local archives.
Researchers used the statistical compendium to locate sources, then checked the original tables.
The handbook is a compendium of the field’s principal debates rather than a defense of one theory.
Her introductory chapter serves as a compact compendium of the earlier scholarship.
Word forms
- Base
- compendium
Usage notes
Countable noun: compendium; plurals compendiums or compendia. Both plural forms are aliases of this headword, not additional entries. Register: formal. Commonness: uncommon (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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