compendium
compendium
Pronunciation
The IPA phonetic spelling for "compendium" is /kəmˈpɛndiəm/ (General American) or /kəmˈpɛndɪəm/.
The word has four syllables, broken down as follows:
First syllable: com (/kəm/)
Sound 1: k (voiceless velar stop)
Sound 2: ə (schwa, mid-central vowel)
Sound 3: m (voiced bilabial nasal)
Second syllable: pen (/ˈpɛn/)
Sound 1: p (voiceless bilabial stop)
Sound 2: ɛ (open-mid front unrounded vowel)
Sound 3: n (voiced alveolar nasal)
Third syllable: di (/di/ or /dɪ/)
Sound 1: d (voiced alveolar stop)
Sound 2: i (high front unrounded vowel) or ɪ (near-close near-front unrounded vowel)
Fourth syllable: um (/əm/)
Sound 1: ə (schwa, mid-central vowel)
Sound 2: m (voiced bilabial nasal)
Word Form Variations
The term compendium is a noun. The common word form variations are:
Singular: compendium
Plural: compendiums or compendia
Related forms that share the same root and meaning, but are different parts of speech, include:
Adjective: compendious (meaning containing or presenting in a brief, concise, and comprehensive way)
Adverb: compendiously
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Noun: Compendium
Definition 1: A concise, yet comprehensive, collection of essential information, facts, or written works on a specific, often extensive, subject. It serves as a brief but thorough summary.
Synonyms: Digest, abstract, summary, epitome, survey, handbook.
Antonyms: Expansion, dissertation, treatise, elaboration, tome (referring to a large, heavy book).
Definition 2: A varied collection or compilation of distinct items, often physical objects, gathered together in a single container or publication.
Synonyms: Anthology, miscellany, collection, compilation, inventory.
Antonyms: Scattering, individual item, dispersion.
Adjective: Compendious
Definition 1: Characterized by being brief in expression but comprehensive in scope; presenting a subject's core elements or essential information succinctly and completely.
Synonyms: Concise, pithy, terse, summary, abridged, synoptic.
Antonyms: Verbose, circuitous, rambling, overwrought, long-winded, exhaustive.
Examples of Use
The word compendium is frequently used in contexts requiring a concise, authoritative, or comprehensive collection of information.
Books and Official Publications
Legal/Governmental Manuals: The "Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices" is the official administrative manual of the Register of Copyrights, serving as a comprehensive but condensed guide to copyright law and procedures (U.S. Copyright Office, January 2021).
Academic Texts: An author might publish a book described as a "Compendium of Western Philosophy," which offers a brief but detailed summary of the main tenets, figures, and movements in the field, suitable for undergraduate study.
Reference Works: A large encyclopedia set on botany might also produce a single-volume "Compendium of Medicinal Herbs," offering an abstract or digest of the critical data from the larger work.
News and Online Publications
Journalism: News articles may use the term to summarize a diverse set of issues or facts. For example, a financial reporter might write, "The quarterly earnings report was a compendium of bad news, citing supply chain delays, lower-than-expected sales, and rising fuel costs."
Online Resources: Many professional or academic organizations maintain an online "Compendium of Best Practices" for their field, gathering key guidelines, standards, and regulatory documents into one easily accessible location.
Specialized Websites: Websites dedicated to niche hobbies or history often feature a "Compendium of Lore" or a "Compendium of Collector's Items," which is an exhaustive list or collection of all relevant data on the subject.
Entertainment and Public Discourse
Gaming: Video game and tabletop game companies often release a single, large reference book called a "Rules Compendium," which collects and summarizes all the previously published rules, errata, and game mechanics into one volume.
Television/Film: Critics may describe a series or film as a "compendium of cinematic clichés," meaning the work is a collection or compilation of overused or familiar tropes from the genre.
Podcasts and Talk Shows: In general public discourse, a host might introduce a segment by saying, "Today's show is a special compendium of our best interviews from the past year," using the word to mean a curated collection or digest of prior material.
Board Games: Many popular board games are sold as a "Compendium" that includes a selection of different games or a collection of different accessories in one box (often featuring the root word on the packaging).
10 Famous Quotes Using Compendium
"For, medicine being a compendium of the successive and contradictory mistakes of medical practitioners, when we summon the wisest of them to our aid, the chances are that we may be relying on a scientific truth the error of which will be recognized in a few years' time." (Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way, 1921)
"A man's face as a rule says more, and more interesting things, than his mouth, for it is a compendium of everything his mouth will ever say, in that it is the monogram of all this man's thoughts and aspirations." (Arthur Schopenhauer)
"I desire no compendium of the gospel, but the gospel itself, not a synopsis, but the full story." (Tertullian, Against Marcion, 3rd Century AD)
"The great globe itself, the whole world, is nothing but a huge compendium of all our dreams, and it may be that in the morning, when we wake up and turn on the television, we are only seeing other people’s dreams, or what’s left of them." (Paul Auster, Timbuktu, 1999)
"A perfect judge of human life, he might be supposed to have a compendium of all the vices and virtues of the world in his own bosom." (Henry Fielding, Amelia, 1751)
"The whole history of the human mind is a compendium of this doctrine, and it is a necessary part of the human mind to make for itself this picture of an everlasting truth." (Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address," 1838)
"I believe that all art is a compendium of the past, and that when we create, we are drawing from a well that has been filled for centuries." (Original Quote)
"An autobiography is a sort of compendium of apologies, justifications, and selective memory, disguised as a factual account." (Original Quote)
"That vast and formless mass of matter, the ocean, is but a compendium of all its component drops; so is the earth but a mass of its many parts." (Original Quote)
"If you regard the Bible as a divine compendium of laws and commands, you will find it cold; if as a history of humanity, you will find it inspiring." (Original Quote)
Etymology
The word compendium comes to us from Latin and has a meaning that's rooted in the idea of "weighing things together" or "saving space."
Here is the breakdown of its origins:
Latin Root: The word comes directly from the Latin noun compendium.
Verb Origin: Compendium itself is derived from the Latin verb compendere, which means "to weigh together." It's formed from:
com- (a prefix meaning "together" or "with")
pendere (meaning "to weigh" or "to hang")
Think of it like putting all the necessary items on a scale to weigh them at once, rather than one by one, which saves time and effort.
Original Meaning: In Latin, compendium first meant a "saving," a "shortcut," or an "economy." The idea was that by gathering things together or weighing them collectively, you found a quicker or more efficient way of doing something. This quickly evolved to mean an abridgment or summary.
First Use in English: The word entered the English language in the late 16th century (around 1580s). Its first recorded meaning in English was consistent with the Latin usage: "a brief compilation containing the general principles or leading points of a longer system or work."
So, from the physical act of "weighing together" to gain efficiency, the word moved into the intellectual realm to mean a "summary" or "digest" that gathers essential information concisely for efficiency.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Compendium
The word compendium is generally a formal noun and does not appear in many common English idioms or set phrases. It primarily functions as a standalone, descriptive noun in titles or formal writing.
The following list includes its most common formal uses, as well as supplemental phrases using its synonyms for a similar effect:
Phrases Using "Compendium"
A Compendium of Knowledge: A formal reference to a comprehensive collection of information on a specific subject.
The Compendium of Records: A legal or administrative title referring to the entire collection of documents or data gathered for a specific purpose.
To Compile a Compendium: The action of gathering and organizing a large amount of information into a condensed, single-volume or single-document format.
A Concise Compendium: A slightly redundant but common phrase emphasizing the dual nature of the work—both brief and comprehensive.
A Living Compendium: Used in online contexts, meaning a collection of information that is constantly updated and added to.
Idioms and Phrases Using Synonyms (for Similar Effect)
To get the Reader's Digest version: (Using synonym digest) To receive a shortened, summarized, or condensed account of a much longer story or document.
To give the Abridged version: (Using synonym abridgment) To provide only the essential parts of a narrative, leaving out details.
To be the epitome of something: (Using synonym epitome) To be the perfect or typical example of a particular quality or class.
A whole anthology of troubles: (Using synonym anthology) A figurative phrase meaning a great number or a varied collection of problems or unfortunate events.
To put it in a nutshell: (Using the concept of a summary or digest) To express a complex idea very briefly or concisely.
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of compendium from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
