eclectic means selecting a mixture of what appears to be best of various doctrines, methods or styles. It carries an Arena rating of 1809, earned across 26 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, eclectic ranks #119 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #285 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,020 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #5,444 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
eclectic is pronounced /ɛkˈlɛk.tɪk/.
Why “eclectic” is a great word
Selecting or deriving ideas, styles, or tastes from a broad and diverse range of sources. From French éclectique, from Ancient Greek ἐκλεκτικός (eklektikós, "selective"), from ἐκλέγω (eklégō, "to pick, choose"), from ἐκ (ek, "out") + λέγω (légō, "to choose, gather"), first recorded in English 1675–85. Unlike orthodox, which demands fealty to a single tradition, or homogeneous, which insists on sameness, eclectic is the deliberate assembly from the disparate. It is a bookshelf where Sufi poetry leans against cyberpunk, a playlist that leaps from Gregorian chant to glitch-hop, a room furnished with a Bauhaus chair beside a baroque mirror. The eclectic mind refuses the tyranny of purity, recognizing that coherence can be a personal creation, assembled at the friction between what was never meant to touch.
Etymology
From French éclectique, from Ancient Greek ἐκλεκτικός (eklektikós, “selective”), from ἐκλέγω (eklégō, “to pick, choose”), from ἐκ (ek, “out, from”) + λέγω (légō, “to choose, count”). Cognate to elect.
adj
- Selecting a mixture of what appears to be best of various doctrines, methods or styles.
- Unrelated and unspecialized; heterogeneous.e.g.“All members of the Hominoidea, apes and man, show an eclectic taste in food but select, from a wide range of possibilities, only a few to provide the bulk of their diet.” — 1983, Peter J. Wilson, Man, the Promising Primate: The Conditions of Human Evolution, page 140:
noun
- Someone who selects according to the eclectic method.e.g.“Neo-Pagans are eclectics, often borrowing from a variety of cultural traditions as they try to shape their religious organizations and practices to meet group and individual needs.” — 1986 December 14, Mary Morrisey, “Roll Over, Jehovah — And Tell St. Nick the News”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 22, page 5:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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