Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A general survey of a subject.
  • noun A synopsis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A viewing together; a comprehensive survey.
  • noun A grouping together so as to be readily seen at one time, or the items so grouped; a digest or résumé of a subject: used chiefly of scientific or other technical treatises.
  • noun Synonyms Compendium, Compend, etc. See abridgment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A general sketch or outline of a subject; a synopsis; an epitome.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A general survey of a subject.
  • noun A synopsis.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an overall summary

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, from past participle of cōnspicere, to observe; see conspicuous.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin cōnspectus ("survey")

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Examples

  • There is no place in this conspectus for the person as such, for those who live as individuals humble to God, haughty to man 'scorning the bounds of a predetermined estate, vindicating the glory of person as person.

    THE TIME IS NOW 2009

  • Michael C. Witte Jim Holt, who takes in so much about the history and philosophy of joke-telling in his concise and amiable conspectus of the subject, "Stop Me If You've Heard This," does not mention the effect of the Internet on joke-telling, but that's about his only omission.

    It's Only a Joke. Or Is It? 2008

  • To make matters worse, he's come up with a blindingly obvious and brilliant wheeze for both generating lots of interesting copy and also providing what amounts to a grand conspectus of the entire open source business scene: an emailed survey of top CEOs there.

    Plugging in to Asay Power glyn moody 2007

  • To make matters worse, he's come up with a blindingly obvious and brilliant wheeze for both generating lots of interesting copy and also providing what amounts to a grand conspectus of the entire open source business scene: an emailed survey of top CEOs there.

    Archive 2007-06-01 glyn moody 2007

  • But the time is not wasted; the conspectus is always good, and the blur that remains on the mind is probably just enough.

    Vailima Letters 2005

  • English Slang in the Nineteenth Century "aims to provide a conspectus, if not comprehensive then at least covering a wide range, of nineteenth-century English slang"; as aldi says: "It includes general works such as Hotten's The Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words by a London Antiquary, 1859, as well as more specialized books."

    languagehat.com: LINKS FROM ALDI. 2005

  • How completely he disassociated Ukrainia from Northern Russia may be judged by the conspectus of his lectures written in 1832.

    Taras Bulba 2003

  • It simply beggared belief that Peter, who had stuffed away somewhere in his head a vast conspectus of English poetry, should choose to hang his fate on this.

    Presumption of Death Sayers, Dorothy L. 2002

  • The second was that, even if it was assumed in his favour that the full conspectus of relevant material had been placed before the court, it fell short of establishing the case sought to be made out by the court below.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1996

  • In order to complete the translation, they settle on an interpretation that fits their view of the meaning, but in so doing, they create a conspectus that may or may not be the meaning of the prophecy. '

    Stone of Tears Goodkind, Terry 1995

Comments

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  • conspectus

    a summary or overview

    May 17, 2022