miscellaneous
/ˌmɪsəˈleɪnɪəs
/adjective
1(Of items or people gathered or considered together) of various types or from different sources: he picked up the miscellaneous papers in his in tray...
- Items found in the master bathroom included a laptop computer found inside a locked closet, a digital camera found by a sink and miscellaneous papers.
- On the table in which he was working on, there was a huge jar of pickles along with a neat pile of papers, books and miscellaneous pens and mechanical pencils.
- I'm buried under stacks of papers, miscellaneous missives, and mementos.
Synonyms
various, varied, different, assorted, mixed, diverse, disparate, sundry, many and different, variegated, diversified, motley, multifarious, jumbled, confused, indiscriminate, heterogeneous
literary divers
rare farraginous
1.1(Of a collection or group) composed of members or elements of different kinds: a miscellaneous collection of well-known ne’er-do-wells...
- The collection is miscellaneous in the sense that the pieces were prompted by different occasions and treat different topics.
- There is also a miscellaneous group of works that have some characteristics of this type of sampler, but cannot be easily placed in one group or another.
- A miscellaneous group of politicians and journalists found a haven in their mansion by the Thames.
Derivatives
miscellaneously
- Suddenly, about a third of the people on the sidewalk, miscellaneously distributed in the general throng, will start dancing like crazy and continue to do so for for about a minute.
- We have migrated from a room of miscellaneously tossed drawings to a full-service archival facility.
- More updates have been miscellaneously been adding around the site.
miscellaneousness
/ noun ...- About Evans’ work in general he wrote that it revealed ‘a certain hideous miscellaneousness of American life.’
- The area of Uri offers the best possible miscellaneousness of summertime activities on cramped space.
- With the vast power of modern computing and the various ways the web can be used, we no longer have to use such categories and we can better exercise our imaginations and understanding through the structured miscellaneousness that cyber tools make possible.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin miscellaneus (from miscellus 'mixed', from miscere 'to mix') + -ous. In earlier use the word also described a person as 'having various qualities'.