Meanings
comparative more compendious · superlative most compendious
- containing a subset of words, succinctly described; abridged and summarized
AN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE RAILWAYS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. By Ernest F. Carter. Cassell. 63s. This compendious work, which, with its index, runs to 637 pages, aims to list chronologically the developments of the British railway system.
1960 January, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 26 - briefly describing a body of knowledge
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincompendiosus“advantageous, abridged, brief”
- Old Frenchcompendieux
- Englishcompendious
From Old French compendieux, from Latin compendiosus (“advantageous, abridged, brief”), from compendium.
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian сбит, съкратен
- сбит (sbit)containing a subset of words
- съкратен (săkraten)containing a subset of words
Russian кра́ткий, сжа́тый
- кра́ткий (krátkij)containing a subset of words
- сжа́тый (sžátyj)containing a subset of words
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
compendious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compendious
“compendious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compendious. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “compendious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compendious.
Source: compendious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.