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

Never Mind the Happy by Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman is a walking, talking, piano-playing encyclopedia of show business. — Emma Specter, Vogue, 31 Oct. 2026

Tebas had to dive into his autocrat encyclopedia again this week, when Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé said the kind of thing that should offend no one, but instead launched a minor international incident. — Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 30 Oct. 2026

Step inside the process of editing the world’s biggest encyclopedia. — Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026

The encyclopedia continued to grow, but its number of active editors hit a ceiling in 2007, and hasn’t recovered since. — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026

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"