en·cy·clo·pe·di·a
Audio Help [en-sahy-kluh-pee-dee-uh] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [en-sahy-kluh-pee-dee-uh] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | a book or set of books containing articles on various topics, usually in alphabetical arrangement, covering all branches of knowledge or, less commonly, all aspects of one subject. |
| 2. | (initial capital letter ) the French work edited by Diderot and D'Alembert, published in the 18th century, distinguished by its representation of the views of the Enlightenment. |
Also, en·cy·clo·pae·di·a.
[Origin: 1525–35; < NL encyclopaedia < Gk enkyklopaidía, a misreading of enkýklios paideía circular (i.e., well-rounded) education. See encyclical, pedi-2
]
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
encyclopedia
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| en·cy·clo·pe·di·a
Audio Help (ěn-sī'klə-pē'dē-ə) Pronunciation Key
n. A comprehensive reference work containing articles on a wide range of subjects or on numerous aspects of a particular field, usually arranged alphabetically. [Medieval Latin encyclopaedia, general education course, from alteration of Greek enkuklios paideia, general education : enkuklios, circular, general; see encyclical + paideia, education (from pais, paid-, child; see pau-1 in Indo-European roots).] Word History: The word encyclopedia, which to us usually means a large set of books, descends from a phrase that involved coming to grips with the contents of such books. The Greek phrase is enkuklios paideia, made up of enkuklios, "cyclical, periodic, ordinary," and paideia, "education," and meaning "general education." Copyists of Latin manuscripts took this phrase to be a single Greek word, enkuklopaedia, with the same meaning, and this spurious Greek word became the New Latin word encyclopaedia, coming into English with the sense "general course of instruction," first recorded in 1531. In New Latin the word was chosen as the title of a reference work covering all knowledge. The first such use in English is recorded in 1644. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
encyclopedia
1531, "course of construction," thought to be a false reading by L. authors of Gk. enkyklios paideia taken as "general education," but lit. "training in a circle," the essentials of a liberal education, from enkyklios "circular," also "general" (from en- "in" + kyklos "circle") + paideia "education, child-rearing," from pais (gen. paidos) "child." Modern sense of "reference work arranged alphabetically" is from 1644, often applied specifically to the Fr. "Encylopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des Sciences, des Artes, et des Métiers" (1751-65).
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| encyclopedia | |
noun | |
| a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
encyclop(a)edia [insaikləˈpiːdiə] noun
a reference work containing information on every branch of knowledge, or on one particular branch
Example: an encyclopaedia of jazz; If you do not know the capital city of Hungary, look it up in an encyclopaedia.
Example: an encyclopaedia of jazz; If you do not know the capital city of Hungary, look it up in an encyclopaedia.
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
Encyclopedia
Cy`clo*pe"di*a\ Cyclopaedia \Cy`clo*p[ae]"di*a\(s?`kl?-p?"d?-?), n. [NL., from Gr. ky`klos circle + paidei`a the bringing up of a child, education, erudition, fr. paidey`ein to bring up a child. See Cycle, and cf. Encyclopedia, Pedagogue.] The circle or compass of the arts and sciences (originally, of the seven so-called liberal arts and sciences); circle of human knowledge. Hence, a work containing, in alphabetical order, information in all departments of knowledge, or on a particular department or branch; as, a cyclopedia of the physical sciences, or of mechanics. See Encyclopedia.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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