encyclopedia
Syllables: en·cy·clo·pe·di·aUK/ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdi.ə//ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpidi.ə/
encyclopedia noun: a comprehensive reference work (often spanning several printed volumes) with articles (usually arranged in alphabetical order, or sometimes arranged by category) on a range of subjects, sometimes general, sometimes limited to a particular field.
Noun
encyclopedia (plural encyclopedias or encyclopediae or encyclopediæ)
- A comprehensive reference work (often spanning several printed volumes) with articles (usually arranged in alphabetical order, or sometimes arranged by category) on a range of subjects, sometimes general, sometimes limited to a particular field.
- I only use the library for the encyclopedia, as we’ve got most other books here.
- My old encyclopedia has been gathering dust on the shelf for the past decade.
- Similarly comprehensive works in other formats.
- Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
- The ancient Mesopotamians never got to write an encyclopedia on stone.
- The circle of arts and sciences (see Etymology); a comprehensive summary of knowledge, or of a branch thereof.
- His life's work is a four-volume encyclopedia of aviation topics.
- I have no idea how to build this model railroad, so I'm gonna look it up on Trainpedia, the encyclopedia for all things model train.
encyclopedia meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
encyclopedia in Hindi
- comprehensive reference work with articles on a range of topics
- ज्ञानकोष jñānkoṣ, विश्वकोश viśvakoś, विश्वकोष viśvakoṣ, साइक्लोपीडिया sāiklopīḍiyā, इनसाइक्लोपीडिया insāiklopīḍiyā
encyclopedia in Tamil
- கலைக்களஞ்சியம், தகவல் களஞ்சியம்
encyclopedia in Urdu
- comprehensive reference work with articles on a range of topics
- دائِرَۃُ الْمَعارِف dāiratu l-ma'ārif, کِتابُ الْمَعارِف kitābu l-ma'ārif, قامُوس qāmūs, اِنْسائِیکِلوپِیڈْیا insāīkilopīḍyā, موسوعہ mausū'a, احصاء العلوم ihsā'-ul-u'lūm
encyclopedia in Bengali
- comprehensive reference work with articles on a range of topics
- বিশ্বকোষ এনসাইক্লোপিডিয়া biśśokōś
More languagesFewer languages
- encyclopedia in Telugu
- విజ్ఞానసర్వస్వం vijñānasarvasvaṁ
- encyclopedia in Malayalam
- സർവവിജ്ഞാനകോശം saṟvavijñānakōśaṁ, വിജ്ഞാനകോശം vijñānakōśaṁ
- encyclopedia in Kannada
- ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ viśvakōśa
- encyclopedia in Punjabi
- ਵਿਸ਼ਵਕੋਸ਼ viśvakoś
- encyclopedia in Gujarati
- વિશ્વકોશ viśvakoś
- encyclopedia in Sanskrit
- विश्वकोश viśvakośa
- encyclopedia in Pashto
- پوهنغونډ pohǝnǧwǝnḍ
- encyclopedia in Tagalog
- santalaalaman, ensiklopedya
- encyclopedia in Arabic
- مَوْسُوعَة mawsūʕa, دَائِرَة مَعَارِف dāʔirat maʕārif
- encyclopedia in Malay
- ensiklopedia, jagat katan
- encyclopedia in Indonesian
- ensiklopedia
- encyclopedia in Thai
- สารานุกรม sǎa-raa-nú-grom
- encyclopedia in Vietnamese
- bách khoa toàn thư
- encyclopedia in Myanmar
- စွယ်စုံကျမ်း cwaicumkyam:
Examples of encyclopedia in a sentence
- The Encyclopedia which we are presenting to the public is, as its title declares, the work of a society of men of letters.1751, Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert, “Discours Préliminaire”, in Richard N. Schwab, Walter E. Rex., transl., Encyclopédie ou...
- [The Origins] can best be summarized, maybe, as an encyclopedia in the guise of an etymological dictionary, by a writer already centuries removed from some of his material.2018 May 20, Bill Thayer, “Isidore of Seville: The Etymologies (or Origins)”, in LacusCurtius, archived from the original on 13 Jul 2012:
- Pliny the Elder’s Natural History is a go-to source for understanding what ancient Romans believed about the world and the model for every encyclopedia since.2025 March 5, Livia Gershon, “The Numinous World of Pliny the Elder”, in JSTOR Daily, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2025:
- To gain market share, Microsoft gave away its CD-ROM encyclopedia with many new computers, a strategy similar to those it has used in other areas.2009 April 15, Reid Goldsborough, “Internet Encyclopedias in Flux”, in InformationToday, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2024:
Forms of encyclopedia
| plural | encyclopedias |
|---|---|
| plural | encyclopediae |
| plural | encyclopediæ |
| alternative Commonwealth | encyclopaedia |
| alternative form (dated) | encyclopædia |
Origin of encyclopedia
Borrowed from New Latin encyclopēdīa, encyclopaedīa (“general education”), a univerbated form of Koine Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ (enkúklios paideíā, “education in the circle of arts and sciences”), from Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, “circular”) + παιδείᾱ (paideíā, “childrearing; education”) (q.v.). Nearly all modern English usage of the word was influenced by the scope and format of the French Encyclopédie by Diderot et al. (see quotation).
Words formed from encyclopedia
Phrases with encyclopedia
Words that rhyme with encyclopedia
Questions about encyclopedia
- What does encyclopedia mean?
- Encyclopedia means a comprehensive reference work (often spanning several printed volumes) with articles (usually arranged in alphabetical order, or sometimes arranged by category) on a range of subjects, sometimes general, sometimes limited to a particular field.
- What is encyclopedia in Hindi?
- Encyclopedia in Hindi is ज्ञानकोष (jñānkoṣ), विश्वकोश (viśvakoś), विश्वकोष (viśvakoṣ). See Encyclopedia meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use encyclopedia in a sentence?
- The Encyclopedia which we are presenting to the public is, as its title declares, the work of a society of men of letters.
- What part of speech is encyclopedia?
- Encyclopedia is a noun.
- How do you pronounce encyclopedia?
- Encyclopedia is pronounced /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdi.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of encyclopedia?
- The plural of encyclopedia is encyclopedias.
Words near encyclopedia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: encyclopedia (page history and authors); encyclopedia (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); વિશ્વકોશ (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-encyclopedia.ogg.
Cite this entry: “encyclopedia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/encyclopedia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.