What does anthologise mean?
Anthologise is a formal verb meaning to collect and select works, passages, or examples from different sources and bring them together as an anthology. It is used especially in connection with literature, essays, poetry, short stories, and other collections in which individual contributions are chosen for their quality, interest, or representativeness. The word also carries the sense of preparing material for publication as a curated collection, so it often suggests editorial judgment as well as simple accumulation. For example, an editor may anthologise the best writing from a period, or a scholar may anthologise passages that explain a particular theme. Anthologise is especially associated with British English, while American English generally uses anthologize. It is a precise and useful term when the act involves selection and arrangement from multiple sources, rather than simply compiling or gathering them without regard to their individual significance.
verbTo collect works, passages, or examples from various sources into an anthology. It can also mean to select and arrange material for publication as a collection.
- To collect works, passages, or examples from different sources into an anthology.
"The editor anthologised the century's most memorable short stories."
"She anthologised the poems that had defined the movement."
"Several leading writers were anthologised in the new collection of essays."
Anthologise turns a scatter of individual works into a curated tour of ideas, voices, and styles.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does anthologise come from?
Anthologise is an English verb formed from anthology, a word borrowed from Greek anthologia, a collection of flowers. The Greek element anthologia was derived from anthologos, meaning a gatherer or collector, from anthos, “flower,” and logos, “account, word, or discourse.” The modern sense developed through the idea of gathering literary or artistic selections into a collection, with anthology serving as the direct model for the verb.
Related word forms
How anthologise is actually used
Most common in British English; the standard US spelling is anthologize. The word is formal and literary, and it usually implies deliberate selection and arrangement rather than merely gathering material.
Easily confused with anthologise
An anthology is the resulting collection of selected works, while anthologise is the verb describing the act of creating that collection.