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Saturday July 31, 2010

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conspectus [kuhn-SPEK-tuhs]

noun

1. A general sketch or outline of a subject.
2. A synopsis; a summary; an epitome.

• Felipe Fernandez-Armesto specializes in the vast. His last book was Civilizations, a history of all of them. Before that came Truth: A History and a Guide for the Perplexed and Millennium: A History of the Last Thousand Years. His 12th book, Near a Thousand Tables, is much shorter than any previous conspectus he has penned. He wrote it, he explains in his introduction, as a devoir de vacances while working on Civilizations.
  Lorraine Adams, "Feeding Frenzy", The Washington Post, Jul 7, 2002
• The detailed notes at the end of the book attest to Fink's impeccable and comprehensive research. Her scrupulous regard for historical truth and attention to detail make War Hospital an engrossing conspectus of a part of the recent Balkan war, which includes the appalling massacre of civilians at the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
  F. Gonzalez-Crussi, "Theater of Operations; Three physician memoirs plumb the horror of modern war", The Washington Post, Oct 12, 2003
• With the help of the pottery we can thus gain a more or less reliable conspectus of the development of the late "Neolithic" culture of Egypt. This system of "sequence-dating" was introduced by Prof. Petrie, and is certainly very useful.
  L.W. King History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, And Assyria In The Light Of Recent Discovery (1906)

Origin of the Word

Conspectus, approximately 1836, derives from Latin conspectus "a looking at, sight, view; range or power of vision," from past particple of conspicere "to look at."