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Compendious: meaning, pronunciation and examples
Compendious adjective. Giving a lot of information in a brief, concise form.
How to say it
kum-PEN-dee-us/kəmˈpɛndɪəs/
4 syllables, stressed on the second (PEN).
Compendious in a sentence
Her compendious guide fits the whole history of jazz into ninety pages.
The appendix gives a compendious summary of every case.
Similar and opposite
Similar:
- concise
- succinct
- comprehensive
- pithy
Opposite:
- verbose
- rambling
Careful
Compendious means thorough yet brief. Because a compendium sounds big, people often use it for huge or sprawling ('a compendious 900-page tome'), which misses the point entirely.
Where compendious comes from
From Latin compendium, a saving or shortening.
Test yourself
Which word fills the gap?
The appendix gives a _____ summary of every case.
- celibate
- fortuitous
- compendious
Show the answer
compendious: The appendix gives a compendious summary of every case.