Make Your Point > Archived Issues > COMPILE

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pronounce COMPILE: Say it "come PIE ull." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: If you're compiling reports, you're gathering them together, putting them into a single document. Compiling can sound a bit dry and businesslike. Piles aren't terribly exciting. If you're going for an exciting tone, you might pick a synonym like m____al or m___er--either of which would hint that you're organizing things for quick, efficient use, as if they're troops getting ready for a battle. Could you recall those two? (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   definition: "Compile" comes from Latin bits meaning "to bundle together." To compile things is to gather them from different sources, often in order to put them into a single book or other resource. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Verb, the transitive kind: "Let's compile our favorite recipes into a book;" "They compiled a list of possible candidates for the job." Other forms:  Compiled, compiling; compiler(s); compilation(s); compilatory (say it "come PIE luh tore ee"). how to use it: We talk about people (or groups, or programs, or robots) who compile things, often into one big thing. We compile data, statistics, information, lists, documents, anecdotes, evidence, etc. "Compile" is a formal word, and very common--so very common that you might be raising an eyebrow at it, wondering why it's in Make Your Point, where the words we explore tend to be colorful, metaphorically rich, or otherwise sophisticated in some sense. Well, I wanted to spend time with "compile" because it can help us describe the kind of rote, thorough, mechanical, unimaginative work that we see everywhere--like in some listicles, Twitter feeds, and Wikipedia articles--in contrast with the more thoughtful, artistic, creative, intelligent, imaginative work that we see elsewhere. In a novel, Chang-rae Lee wrote that a particular text sounds "compiled rather than written." I like that distinction. I might slow down sometimes and ask myself, "Hey, are you truly writing here? Or are you just compiling?" examples: "Know thine enemy was Artemis's motto, so he immersed himself in the lore of the People until he had compiled a huge database on their characteristics."      — Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, 2001    "Gardner had compiled all of his initial research into a secret memo titled 'Special Analysis Report No. 1.'"    — Marc Favreau, Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia, 2019 has this page helped you understand "compile"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "compile" without saying "amass" or "accumulate." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) compiled a list of pros and cons regarding _____." Example 1: "He compiled a list of pros and cons regarding living at home for his first year of college." Example 2: "Because I had nothing to do last night except relive the most awkward date ever, I compiled a list of pros and cons regarding my most recent life choice."    — Julie Murphy, Dumplin', 2015    If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for this month is Rhyming Puzzles! I'll give you a description of something, and you name it in a rhyming phrase.  Longtime readers will recognize this game from years past, when we grappled with silly answers like "shopworn popcorn," "hidebound guide hound," "cow chow kowtow," "unflagging pun bragging," and "catch-as-catch-can Etch A Sketch fan." The answers will get longer as the month goes on. To see the clue, click the link. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. Enjoy! Try this one today: You've named your boat "Sky's The Limit" and proudly plastered this name across the hull, spelling it out in individual stickers. Over time, the smallest sticker peeled off and went missing, and now whenever a fellow boater complains about the apparent lack of punctuation, you sigh deeply and agree, "Yes, how I long for my ____-__-___   __________." Two words. The first word is three syllables with two hyphens. The second word is four syllables. Clue: use this word. review this word: 1. The opposite of COMPILE is A. COMPOSE. B. MESS UP. C. SEPARATE. 2. In a Saturday Night Live skit, Jason Bateman makes this pitch: "The greatest compilation _____!" A. of matches ever... At Me-Harmony, we guarantee you someone who is exactly like you B. of love songs ever... If you tried to find all these songs separately, you'd have to buy over three albums C. of seafood ever... Hey, remember that one time I got thrown out of the Red Lobster at San Diego? They said 'all you can eat.' They were lying Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B Answer to the game question: Your lost-at-sea apostrophe. a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.