anthology

noun an·thol·o·gy \ an-ˈthä-lə-jē \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of anthology

plural anthologies

1 : a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music

an anthology of American poetry

2 : assortment

… an anthology of threadbare clichés of … bistro cuisine …
—Jay Jacobs

—

anthological

play \ˌan(t)-thə-ˈlä-ji-kəl\ adjective

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Examples of anthology in a Sentence

an anthology of American poetry
The band will be releasing an anthology of their earlier albums.

Recent Examples of anthology from the Web

This book is a near-anthology of rejection, from grant committees, publishers and galleries.

— dwight garner, New York Times, "‘Berenice Abbott’ Captures a Large and Star-Studded Life," 9 Apr. 2018
So in that spirit of setting aside time this week to soak in the seductive science of pro-graps, Boom is publishing its latest WWE anthology special featuring four stories from the history of the company's signature event.

— will nevin, OregonLive.com, "TBT #33: Sci-fi 'Wasted Space' and WWE, 'Rugrats' anthology specials coming to comics," 3 Apr. 2018
Andersen has published two collections of poems, Stomp and Sing and Augur, an anthology of poetry, Seeds of Fire, and a bilingual collection of poems, The Burden Note.

— denise coffey, Courant Community, "Poetry, Yoko Ono, The Art Of Resistance," 3 Apr. 2018
Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images There's something about being in the middle of a crime scene that seems to appeal to Connie Britton, who is set to star in Bravo's true crime anthology series, Dirty John.

— madison medeiros, refinery29.com, "Why Connie Britton's New Role Is So, So Perfect," 27 Mar. 2018
Last year, author Jake Kerr compiled The Event Horizon 2017 anthology, a massive two-volume, 400,000 word ebook which collected stories from 75 authors.

— andrew liptak, The Verge, "A free anthology collects stories from 2017’s new sci-fi and fantasy writers," 18 Mar. 2018
Women’s Writes Monday, March 19 Celebrate Women’s History Month at Harvard Book Store, where five writers will discuss their contributions to All the Women in My Family Sing, a new anthology of essays by 69 women of color.

— BostonGlobe.com, "Five things to do, March 19-25," 16 Mar. 2018
The Rub of Time, Amis’s new anthology of essays and reportage, is not concerned expressly with cliché, at least compared to the previous compendium.

— calum marsh, The New Republic, "Martin Amis Makes the Case for Snobbery," 16 Mar. 2018
But although an anthology of his Catholic Eye columns, Pins in the Liberal Balloon, was published in 1990, Canavan continued writing columns for nearly 20 years after that book was published, and none of those later columns were anthologized.

— nr interview, National Review, "Capturing a Spiritual Father’s Freedom and Wisdom," 12 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'anthology.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of anthology

New Latin anthologia collection of epigrams, from Middle Greek, from Greek, flower gathering, from anthos flower + logia collecting, from legein to gather; akin to Sanskrit andha herb — more at legend

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1624

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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