encyclopedia

noun

en·​cy·​clo·​pe·​dia in-ˌsī-klə-ˈpē-dē-ə 

: a work that contains information on all branches of knowledge or treats comprehensively a particular branch of knowledge usually in articles arranged alphabetically often by subject

Examples of encyclopedia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The job posting suggests Grokipedia will leverage AI to pull information from Grok’s training database to create the encyclopedia entries. —Senior Reporter, PC Magazine, 6 Oct. 2025

After looking up the film in the encyclopedia, Murphy learned about the real-life figure who inspired Norman Bates’ crimes. —Daniel D'addario, Variety, 30 Sep. 2025

Enter the Trotula, basically an ancient women’s-health encyclopedia. —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025

But as the encyclopedia Extinct Animals notes, local quagga populations began to rapidly decline in the 1850s, post-European settlement. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin encyclopaedia course of general education, from Greek enkyklios + paideia education, child rearing, from paid-, pais child — more at few

First Known Use

1644, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for encyclopedia

• cyclopaedia
• cyclopedia
• hypermedia
• intermedia
• multimedia
• comedia
• commedia
• encyclopaedia

Kids Definition

encyclopedia

noun

en·​cy·​clo·​pe·​dia

variants also encyclopaedia

in-ˌsī-klə-ˈpēd-ē-ə

: a work that contains information on all subjects or one that covers a certain subject thoroughly usually with articles arranged alphabetically

Etymology

from Latin encyclopedia "course of general education," from Greek enkyklios "general, all-around," literally, "circular" and Greek paideia "education, child rearing"