miscellany

Borrowed from French miscellanées, from Latin miscellanea, from miscellus (“mixed”), from misceō (“to mix”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɪˈsɛl.ə.ni/, /ˈmɪ.səl.ə.ni/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪs.əˌleɪ.ni/, /mɪˈsɛl.ə.ni/

• Audio (AU)

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miscellany (countable and uncountable, plural miscellanies)

1. (countable) An assortment of miscellaneous items.

   Synonyms: miscellanea, smorgasbord; see also Thesaurus:hodgepodge

2. (countable) A collection of writings on various subjects or topics; an anthology.

   Synonym: reader

   a monthly miscellany of literature

3. (uncountable) The condition of being miscellaneous, of being a hodgepodge.

   Synonym: miscellaneousness

   • 1896 March, Louis H. Sullivan, “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, volume 57, page 407:

     All of these critics and theorists agree, however, positively, unequivocally, in this, […] that miscellany is abhorrent to their sense; that the sixteen-story building must not consist of sixteen separate, distinct, and unrelated buildings piled one upon the other until the top of the pile is reached.