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encyclopedia

encyclopedia

64 3.7
A book or set of books arranged in alphabetical order with short articles on many subjects to look up facts
  • noun
  • /ˌɛn.sɪ.kləˈpoʊ.di.ə/
translation icon : enciclopedia
  • And I for my first book, I read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z.
  • an encyclopedia entry
  • an online encyclopedia
  • Encyclopedia Britannica

One, we all pretty much know what an encyclopedia entry on, say the Eiffel Tower should be like.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Wow, The Encyclopedia of Cinnamon by Alicia Tella.

  • Published by Oxford Reference, this encyclopedia has won many awards, including the 1998 ALA/RUSA Outstanding Reference Source.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Our next guest grew up reading the encyclopedia for fun.

  • These look straight out of an encyclopedia.

  • It is, you know, any good encyclopedia would have that term in it.

  • Today I want to talk about the online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.

  • Young Musk read the Encyclopedia Britannica.

  • A copy of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine was sitting out on the kitchen table.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • We had an encyclopedia.

  • Growing up, I often consulted the encyclopedia to learn about different animals and their habitats.

Synonyms

compendium
vsencyclopedia
11 8.8

A book or guide that collects and summarizes important facts about a subject

contains fuller articles and wider topic coverage rather than brief summaries
reference book
vsencyclopedia
8 2.6

A book you use to check facts or information

is a set of alphabetically arranged articles made for topic reference
cyclopedia
vsencyclopedia
  • Archaic
1 9.7

A book or set of books with articles about many subjects

is the general term not stressing multi volume format
book of knowledge
vsencyclopedia
1 3.6

A book that gives basic facts about many subjects like history and science

offers more detailed and comprehensive articles rather than basic overviews

How Comprehensive

encyclopedia
64 3.7
handbook
56 3.1
booklet
40 1.9
leaflet
31 2.7

Surface Forms

encyclopedia singular
encyclopedias plural

Morphology

encyclopedia = encyclo + pedia

Although historically analyzable into Greek combining forms, those parts are not productive standalone English words and the compound meaning is not directly derivable by an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Encyclopedia comes from Greek parts enkyklios 'circle' and paideia 'education', so it means a 'circle of learning' or a complete set of knowledge. That's why an encyclopedia is a book or set of books that gives information about many subjects.