Meaning & use
compendia
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“compendia” is a form of “compendium”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
nounplural
Plural of compendium: books or collections that gather a large amount of information on one subject in a concise, organized form.
Grammar: Plural of compendium; takes a plural verb: the compendia are on the top shelf.
Patterns
- compendia of something
The library keeps several compendia of regional folk tales.
Medieval scholars produced compendia that summed up everything then known about plants.
These two compendia cover the whole history of the printing press.
Common combinations
- compendia of knowledge
- Early encyclopedias were compendia of knowledge copied by hand.
- annotated compendia
- The professor owns annotated compendia of legal cases.
- a series of compendia
- The publisher released a series of compendia on world cuisines.
- scientific compendia
- Scientific compendia help researchers find old data quickly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- anthologies
- Anthologies gather separate pieces of writing, such as poems, whereas compendia collect facts and information.
- digests
- Digests are shortened versions of longer material, while compendia stress being complete yet compact.
- encyclopedias
- Encyclopedias cover many subjects in alphabetical entries, but compendia usually focus on one field.
- handbooks
- Handbooks are practical guides for doing something, while compendia mainly gather information.
Word family
- compendium noun
- the singular form, a concise but thorough collection of information
- compendiums noun
- the English-style plural, equally correct
- compendious adjective
- containing much information in a small space
Commonly confused: compendia or compendium? compendia or complement?
compendia vs compendium
Compendium is the singular; compendia is the plural. Say one compendium, two compendia.
compendia vs complement
Complement means something that completes or goes well with another thing; it is unrelated to collections of information.
Practice
The museum shop sells two ___ of ancient maps.
Choose one answer.
Two requires a plural noun, so compendia fits. Compendium is singular and the other two are an adjective and an adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compendia”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.