Meaning & use
catalog
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Meanings
nouncountable
A list or book showing all the items that are available, such as products, books or courses.
Grammar: Countable: a catalog, two catalogs. British spelling is catalogue.
Patterns
- a catalog of something
- browse the catalog
I flipped through the furniture catalog looking for a desk.
The college catalog lists every course offered this year.
The library's online catalog lets you search by author.
nounsingularfigurative
A long series of things, usually bad events.
Grammar: Usually a catalog of followed by a plural noun, often of problems: a catalog of errors.
Patterns
- a catalog of disasters
- a catalog of mistakes
The report was a catalog of mistakes from start to finish.
Her life seemed a catalog of bad luck.
The film is a catalog of the director's favorite clichés.
verbtransitive
To make a complete, organized list of things, or to enter items in a catalog.
Grammar: Takes an object: catalog the books.
Patterns
- catalog something
- catalog something by something
The curator spent a year cataloging the museum's coins.
Volunteers cataloged every donated book by subject.
Scientists have cataloged thousands of new species.
Word forms
| plural | catalogs |
|---|---|
| third person singular | catalogs |
| past tense | cataloged |
| past participle | cataloged |
| -ing form | cataloging |
Common combinations
- online catalog
- You can search the online catalog from home.
- mail-order catalog
- My grandmother loved ordering from a mail-order catalog.
- card catalog
- The library once used a card catalog.
- browse a catalog
- We browsed the catalog for gift ideas.
- catalog of errors
- The audit was a catalog of errors.
- catalog the collection
- They hired someone to catalog the collection.
Synonyms and how they differ
- list
- List is plain and general, while a catalog is usually organized and published with details.
- inventory
- An inventory lists what a business or person actually owns, whereas a catalog lists what is available to choose.
- directory
- A directory lists people, businesses or files, often by name, rather than products for sale.
- index
- An index points to where things are found in a book, whereas a catalog describes the items themselves.
Word family
Commonly confused: catalog or catalogue?
catalog vs catalogue
Catalogue is the standard British spelling, while catalog is the American spelling; both are acceptable in American English.
Practice
The librarian spent the summer ______ the new donations so people could find them.
Choose one answer.
To catalog is to record items in an organized list. The other verbs do not describe making a list.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “catalog”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.