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SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS

eclectic

adjective

Drawing ideas, styles, or elements from varied sources.

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Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.

Drawn from varied sources

Closest synonyms

wide-rangingvarieddiversemixed

Related words and expressions

drawing from many stylesselectively combinedcross-disciplinarymultifaceted

These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.

Usage distinction

Eclectic implies selection across sources. A mixed collection need not be deliberately chosen; multifaceted means having many aspects rather than drawing from varied sources.

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RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY

The eclectic family

These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.

eclecticismnoun

The practice of drawing from varied ideas, styles, or sources.

Selecting from varied sources

Closest synonyms

eclectic methodselective borrowing

Related expressions

combination of varied stylesselection across traditionsdrawing on multiple approaches
The exhibition's eclecticism brought together pottery, photographs, and woven art.
Dictionary practice example.
The curator defended her eclecticism as a purposeful choice to let different approaches speak to one another. Fusion described the integrated sound-and-paper installation more precisely than it described every work sharing the room. The array of bowls, for example, remained a collection whose separate objects could be compared side by side. In her introduction, she explained why each format belonged in the exhibition, showing that breadth of selection could rest on a clear organizing idea rather than on indiscriminate accumulation.
From An Exhibition Across Styles.
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CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT

See eclectic in use

Her eclectic bookshelf held poetry, geology, and detective fiction.
Dictionary practice example.
For an exhibition about everyday writing, Selim assembled an eclectic collection of notebooks, shopping lists, postcards, and handwritten signs.
From Making Different Parts Belong.

Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.

Synonym reference scope and sources

The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.

How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license

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