What does glossary mean?
Word: Glossary
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Glossary means an alphabetical list of the special words used in a book or subject, each with a short explanation.
Synonyms: word list
How do you spell glossary?
Syllables: glos - sa - ry
Tricky part: There is a double s in the middle, and the ending is ary, not ery: glosary and glossery are both wrong.
Watch out for: glosary, glossery
Memory tip: Glossary ends like dictionary and library, the other places you go to look words up.
Glossary in a sentence
Example 1: The history book has a glossary of terms like dynasty and treaty.
Example 2: Mohan added a glossary of cricket words to his school project.
Example 3: Our science teacher asked us to make a glossary for the chapter on light.
Fun Fact
Some of the oldest English glossaries, written around the year 700, list Latin words with their Old English meanings beside them.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Which of these words takes the suffix ary to make a real word?
ary
a) index
b) word
c) gloss
d) page
Show answer
c) gloss. Gloss, an old word for a note that explains a hard word, takes ary; wordary, pageary and indexary are not words.
Mingle-Mangle
Choose the word that the jumbled letters in the sentence make:
Check the oslrasgy in your textbook for the meaning of words like photosynthesis.
a) grocery
b) glossary
c) gallery
d) glossy
Show answer
b) glossary. Glossy is too short, gallery needs a double l and an e, and grocery a c and an e; the eight letters spell glossary.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning.
1. glossary 2. apendix 3. biblography 4. prefase
a) extra material added at the end of a book
b) an introduction at the start of a book
c) a book's own mini-dictionary of its special terms
d) a list of the books used in writing another book
Show answer
c) a book's own mini-dictionary of its special terms. Appendix has a double p, bibliography has an i after the l, and preface has a c, not an s.
Word Cookie
One word in this sentence is misspelt. Find it:
The science textbook has a glossary of forty terms, from atom to zoology, printed in small type for quick referance.
a) science
b) printed
c) glossary
d) referance
Show answer
d) referance. Reference ends in ence, as preference does.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Where in a textbook would you usually find a glossary?
a) inside each heading
b) at the back
c) on the spine
d) on the cover
Show answer
b) at the back
2. How is a glossary different from an index?
a) It gives page numbers only.
b) It names the author.
c) It explains what words mean.
d) It always comes first in a book.
Show answer
c) It explains what words mean.
