Index vs. Glossary: What's the Difference?
Table of Contents
Glossary
A glossary, also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a glossary appears at the end of a book and includes terms within that book that are either newly introduced, uncommon, or specialized. While glossaries are most commonly associated with non-fiction books, in some cases, fiction novels may come with a glossary for unfamiliar terms.
A bilingual glossary is a list of terms in one language defined in a second language or glossed by synonyms (or at least near-synonyms) in another language.
In a general sense, a glossary contains explanations of concepts relevant to a certain field of study or action. In this sense, the term is related to the notion of ontology. Automatic methods have been also provided that transform a glossary into an ontology or a computational lexicon.
Index (noun)
An alphabetical listing of items and their location.
“The index of a book lists words or expressions and the pages of the book upon which they are to be found.”
Index (noun)
The index finger; the forefinger.
Index (noun)
A movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc.
Index (noun)
A symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.
Index (noun)
That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.
Index (noun)
A sign; an indication; a token.
Index (noun)
A type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context. E.g., ‘Today’s newspaper’ is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.
Index (noun)
A single number calculated from an array of prices or of quantities.
Index (noun)
A number representing a property or ratio, a coefficient.
Index (noun)
A raised suffix indicating a power.
Index (noun)
An integer or other key indicating the location of data e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.
Index (noun)
A data structure that improves the performance of operations on a table.
Index (noun)
A prologue indicating what follows.
Index (verb)
To arrange an index for something, especially a long text.
Index (verb)
To inventory, to take stock.
Index (verb)
To be indexical for (some situation or state of affairs); to indicate.
Glossary (noun)
A list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with their definitions.
Glossary (noun)
an alphabetical list of words relating to a specific subject, text, or dialect, with explanations; a brief dictionary
“a glossary of Inuktitut words”
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