SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
eclecticism
noun
The practice of drawing from varied ideas, styles, or sources.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Selecting from varied sources
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topDiversity describes variety itself; eclecticism is the practice of drawing from that variety.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See eclecticism in use
The exhibition's eclecticism brought together pottery, photographs, and woven art.
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.
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