catalogue

"Catalogue" is a practical word with two closely related meanings — one as a noun and one as a verb. It's all about listing and organizing things in a clear, structured way.

1nouna structured list or collection

A catalogue is an organized list of items — like products, books, or artworks — usually with descriptions and sometimes pictures. Think of it as a detailed menu, but for things like clothes in a shop or books in a library.

everyday language, retail, libraries, arts · Modern, widely used

The museum published a catalogue of all the paintings in its new exhibition.

She flipped through the furniture catalogue to find a new sofa.

The university library has an online catalogue where you can search for any book.

2nounfigurativea long series of things (usually bad)

You can also use 'catalogue' to describe a long series of events or problems, one after another. It gives the feeling that there were just too many of them to count. This sense is almost always used for negative things.

everyday language, journalism · Modern, widely used · figurative

The report revealed a catalogue of errors made by the hospital.

He described a catalogue of disasters that had ruined his holiday.

The investigation uncovered a catalogue of corruption within the company.

3verbto record and organize items in a list

When you catalogue something, you carefully record it and put it into an organized system. Imagine a scientist collecting insects and writing down every detail about each one — that is cataloguing.

science, libraries, museums, business · Modern, widely used

The researchers spent months cataloguing every species of plant found in the forest.

She catalogued all the old photographs by date and location.

The archivist is cataloguing thousands of historical documents.