potpourri

potpourri
noun
pot·;pour·;ri ;p;-pu;-;r;
Synonyms of potpourri
1
: a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent
2
: a miscellaneous collection : medley
a potpourri of the best songs and sketches
—Current Biography


Did you know?
Some people delight in the scent of potpourri, and others find it cloying. Happily, this word manages to contain elements which will make each of these groups feel that their preferences are linguistically supported. Potpourri is used today to refer literally to a fragrant mixture of flowers, herbs, etc., and figuratively to a miscellaneous collection, or medley, of things. But potpourri first referred to a kind of stew of meat and vegetables, usually including sausage and chickpeas. It was borrowed from French, where pot pourri translates directly as “putrid pot”; the French word was a translation of the Spanish olla podrida, which likewise means “rotten pot.” We don't know why both the Spanish and the French gave their stews such unappetizing names, although it has been suggested that the Spanish method of slowly cooking this dish over a fire may have had something to do with it. Regardless, after referring solely to stew for its first hundred and some-odd years, potpourri began to be used for an aromatic blend of dried flowers in the middle of the 18th century, and within the next hundred years was being applied to mixtures and collections of all kinds of things.

Synonyms
agglomerate
agglomeration
alphabet soup
assortment
botch
clutter
collage
crazy quilt
farrago
gallimaufry
grab bag
gumbo
hash
hodgepodge
hotchpotch
jambalaya
jumble
jungle
litter
mac;doine
medley
m;lange
menagerie
miscellanea
miscellany
mishmash
mixed bag
montage
motley
muddle
olio
olla podrida
omnium-gatherum
pastiche
patchwork
patchwork quilt
ragbag
ragout
rummage
salad
salmagundi
scramble
shuffle
smorgasbord
stew
tumble
variety
welter
Examples of potpourri in a Sentence
The festival was a musical potpourri—performances included folk, jazz, blues, and rap music.
a potpourri of hit songs from the last 10 years
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
While the shop is small, the selection is a potpourri ranging from practical garden tools to the prettiest holiday decor.
—Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 25 Nov. 2024
This raises a potpourri of very weighty AI ethics concerns, see my coverage at the link here.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
As popular as the Margaux bag itself, the twins have cemented themselves as the North Star of the less-is-more approach, causing Olsen obsessives like myself to collect a potpourri of candid paparazzi shots and street style images, despite there not being many circulating.
—Cortne Bonilla, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2024
Save on a Rachel Ray casserole carrier, too, for holiday parties or to make your own healthy snacks, potpourri, and crafts with a food dehydrator for under $50.
—Kaitlin Gates, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Nov. 2024

Word History
Etymology
French pot pourri, literally, rotten pot

First Known Use
1749, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of potpourri was in 1749
See more words from the same year