Definitions

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

  • noun A collector who strives to obtain a complete collection of some type of thing.
  • noun A person who champions any philosophy which somehow includes the completeness of something; as, a completist philosopher who holds that a definite complete body of knowledge exists to be discovered
  • adjective Which attempts to collect something completely; as, a completist dictionary, a completist collector

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word completist.

Examples

  • And being a serious Sinatra collector myself I prefer to be called a completist, others prefer "nerd", I'm usually one of the louder voices in the chorus of kvetchers.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Tony Sachs 2011

  • And being a serious Sinatra collector myself I prefer to be called a completist, others prefer "nerd", I'm usually one of the louder voices in the chorus of kvetchers.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Tony Sachs 2011

  • LibraryThing lists these authors as having the most 'completist' fans, ie that those who have one book by the author are likely to have a lot more.

    Cambridge Lib Dems... nwhyte 2010

  • I keep hearing that writers/publishers must grab the obsessive-compulsive "completist" readership, the sort of "devoted" kind who become obsessed with a series and WILL NOT STOP until he gets every single book in a series ... and wants a series to never end ...

    MIND MELD: Science Fiction Series 2008

  • For "completist" readers of Asimov's robot stories, check out Johnny Pez's Insanely Complete Asimov Fiction List which offers a time line on all of the Robot and Foundation stories.

    I, Redux 2004

  • For "completist" readers of Asimov's robot stories, check out Johnny Pez's Insanely Complete Asimov Fiction List which offers a time line on all of the Robot and Foundation stories.

    July 2004 2004

  • Bioware is breaking you of your "completist" video game habit.

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2010

  • Bioware is breaking you of your "completist" video game habit.

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2010

  • Bioware is breaking you of your "completist" video game habit.

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2010

  • Whether it's the obsessive idea of being a "completist" or an interest in trying to further understand the musician's art, searching out those rare recordings is a big part of the fun of being a music fan.

    PopMatters Adrien Begrand 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • From Word Spy: A person who obsessively gathers the complete collection of a particular set of items (such as a musician's recordings or an author's books).

    "Hendrix completists, and they are legion, already will have these volumes cataloged with previous versions on quadraphonic vinyl, 8-track and Betamax."

    —Bill Lammers, "Latest CD Offers More of Hendrix," The Plain Dealer, July 25, 1999

    October 29, 2007