encyclopedist
Comprehensive reference author
An encyclopedist is someone who writes or compiles entries for an encyclopedia, contributing knowledge across a broad range of subjects.
The term particularly evokes the French Encyclopédistes of the 18th century—Diderot, Voltaire, and others—who produced the landmark *Encyclopédie* and helped spread Enlightenment ideas.
More generally, encyclopedist can describe anyone with wide-ranging knowledge or scholarly interests: She's a true encyclopedist, equally at home discussing botany or Byzantine history.
One who revises text
- compilerSource-to-machine-code translator
- curatorCollection overseer
- archivistKeeper of historical documents
- catalogerOne who compiles listings
indexer · systematizer · organizer · collator · redactor · assembler · synthesist · taxonomist
Person of profound learning
- polymathMulti-domain expert
- eruditeProfoundly knowledgeable
- learnedHaving much knowledge
- sageWisdom keeper or seasoning
intellectual · academic · philosopher · historian · researcher · bibliophile · humanist · litterateur
Dictionary author
- biographerOne who writes lives
- philologistScholar of language history
- linguistExpert in languages
- naturalistStudent of nature
botanist · geographer · cartographer · antiquarian · numismatist · etymologist · bibliographer · glossarist
Enlightenment French thinker
- EncyclopédieComprehensive Enlightenment-era French reference
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
secularism · humanism · reason · progress · democratization · dissemination · reform · freethought
Access or submission
- articleWritten piece or grammatical word
- volumeAmount of space filled
- editionSingle published version
- compendiumCondensed reference collection
sourcebook · dictionary · thesaurus · almanac · gazetteer · cyclopedia · digest · handbook
Extensive scholarly knowledge
- learningGaining knowledge gradually
- scholarshipEducational funding or erudition
- comprehensivenessState of being complete
- systematizationCreating ordered structure
classification · taxonomy · universality · breadth · scope · synthesis · comprehension · mastery
editor
One who revises text
- compilerSource-to-machine-code translator
- curatorCollection overseer
- archivistKeeper of historical documents
cataloger · indexer · systematizer · organizer · collator · redactor · assembler · synthesist · taxonomist · classifier
savant
Person of profound learning
sage · intellectual · academic · philosopher · historian · researcher · bibliophile · humanist · litterateur · generalist
lexicographer
Dictionary author
- biographerOne who writes lives
- philologistScholar of language history
- linguistExpert in languages
naturalist · botanist · geographer · cartographer · antiquarian · numismatist · etymologist · bibliographer · glossarist · Diderot
philosophe
Enlightenment French thinker
- EncyclopédieComprehensive Enlightenment-era French reference
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
empiricism · secularism · humanism · reason · progress · democratization · dissemination · reform · freethought · universalism
entry
Access or submission
compendium · sourcebook · dictionary · thesaurus · almanac · gazetteer · cyclopedia · digest · handbook · index
erudition
Extensive scholarly knowledge
- learningGaining knowledge gradually
- scholarshipEducational funding or erudition
- comprehensivenessState of being complete
systematization · classification · taxonomy · universality · breadth · scope · synthesis · comprehension · mastery · expertise
- knowledge keepersarchivist, curator, historian, librarian, loremaster
- writersauthor, novelist, writer, poet, journalist
- intellectualsscholar, intellectual, academic, thinker, philosopher
- Medieval Scholarsscholastic, schoolman, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham
encyclopedistspecialist
Expert in one field
expert · domain expert · authority · deep diver · one-trick pony
encyclopedistobscurantist
One opposing spread of knowledge
gatekeeper · anti-intellectual · censor · mystic · ignoramus
- encyclopedic knowledgeVast, wide-ranging learning
- online encyclopediaWeb-based reference work
- walking encyclopediaPerson of vast knowledge
- encyclopedia setComprehensive topical book series
- encyclopedia salesmanPeddles multivolume reference works
- encyclopedia entriesInformational articles in compendiums