Definitions

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

  • noun plural Selections from or parts of a literary work or group of works. Often used as a title.

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

  • noun plural A collection of literary fragments.

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

  • noun A collection of excerpts or quotes.

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

  • noun a collection of excerpts from a literary work

Etymologies

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

[Greek analekta, selected things, from neuter pl. of analektos, gathered together, from analegein, to gather : ana-, ana- + legein, to gather; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1658, from Ancient Greek ἀνάλεκτα (analekta, "things chosen"), from ἀνα- (ana-, "up") + λέγειν (legein, "to gather"). Compare lecture.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Often used to describe the collected writings of Confucius.

    March 1, 2008

  • JM is compiling a compendium of analects made up of the last three words of 7,000 bestsellers.

    May 26, 2010