catalog

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A systematic list of books, names.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

katuhlawg

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkætəlɔɡ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

American spelling
A systematic list of books, names, pictures, etc.

verb

American spelling
To put into a catalogue.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A2 · Elementary
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (American spelling) A systematic list of books, names, pictures, etc.

Used this way, catalog is a word tied to one variety of English that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. Most speakers understand it but seldom reach for it.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Regional
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Uncommon in everyday speech

Usage note

Mainly used in American English, so it may read as unusual elsewhere.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use catalog

“He found it in the Sears catalog.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

union cataloglibrary catalogcongress catalogcatalog cardfree catalogonline catalogcatalog numbercatalog record

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

catalog buyingnounCompound term
Buying goods to be shipped through the mail.
cataloged procedurenounCompound term
A set of control statements that have been placed in a library and can be retrieved by name.
course catalognounCompound term
A catalog listing the courses offered by a college or university.
library catalognounCompound term
An enumeration of all the resources of a library.
parts catalognounCompound term
A list advertising parts for machinery along with prices.
seed catalognounCompound term
A list advertising seeds and their prices.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

course cataloguenounRelated term
A catalog listing the courses offered by a college or university.
card cataloguenounRelated term
A library catalog in which each publication is described on a separate file card.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: systematic list of books or names or pictures

catalogue

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.