compendium

/kəmˈpɛndiəm/

/kəmˈpɛndiəm/

Other forms: compendiums

When you search an online encyclopedia, you are searching a compendium of information on just about everything. A compendium is a comprehensive collection of something.

You can also use the word compendium to describe a collection of written works. If you gather all of the anecdotes your parents and grandparents have told you into a book, you'll have created a compendium of family stories. The plural of compendium is either compendiums or compendia.

Definitions of compendium

1. noun

   a publication containing a variety of works
   synonyms: collection

   types:

   anthology

   a collection of selected literary passages

   archives

   collection of records especially about an institution

   compilation, digest

   something that is compiled (as into a single book or file)

   divan, diwan

   a collection of Persian or Arabic poems (usually by one author)

   florilegium, garland, miscellany

   an anthology of short literary pieces and poems and ballads etc.

   omnibus

   an anthology of articles on a related subject or an anthology of the works of a single author

   type of:

   publication

   a copy of a printed work offered for distribution
2. noun

   a concise but comprehensive summary of a larger work
   type of:

   sum-up, summary

   a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form