What is a similar word to "comprehensive" that doesn't suggest absolutely everything will be covered?

Question

I'm putting together a proposal for a website and one of the things that we're providing is a knowledge base for users to find solutions to their problems.

I'd like to imply that the KB will have a lot of information in it, but don't want to suggest that it'll cover everything the user could ever need, as comprehensive does. Vast also feels like it's implying that the KB will be ... well, vast, which it won't necessarily.

Is there a more suitable word?

How about significant? That's often used as a sort of soft antonym to trivial. — Dan Bron, May 01 '15 at 09:56
Possibly "detailed", although that implies more depth than breadth. — Matthew Read, May 01 '15 at 17:40
It's probably worth pointing out that comprehensive doesn't mean everything, it means everything, or much, or most, or a large proportion of. see http://www.thefreedictionary.com/comprehensive — Frank, May 01 '15 at 18:24

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered May 01 '15 at 10:03

20

Extensive may suggest a wide but not full coverage:

having wide or considerable extent, extensive reading. (M-W)

answered May 01 '15 at 10:03

I think I'll go with this; as mentioned in comments on Sobrique's answer it may be redundant anyhow, but I'm OK with that in this situation – Joe May 01 '15 at 10:13
Similar but stronger: Exhaustive? – David Pugh May 01 '15 at 11:31
6

@DavidPugh: I'm -1 on Exhausive. It implies you've totally exhausted the problem space, that you cover everything under the sun. – Kevin May 01 '15 at 15:09
@Kevin: Fair cop, guv. I'd forgotten or filtered out the negative in Joe's question. I shall give to charity. – David Pugh May 01 '15 at 15:16

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '15 at 16:34

There are two aspects or dimensions when describing how much knowledge or information is present somewhere: breadth and depth. Breadth refers to the extent of the topics covered; depth refers to the thoroughness with which each topic is treated.

"Vast", to me, primarily implies breadth, while "comprehensive" implies both.

So I would recommend first determining whether you want to emphasize the breadth, depth, or both of the KB, and then just...use one or both of those words. My instinct is that "broad" is probably the word you should pick--it is simple and clear.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 01 '15 at 09:48

1

Encyclopedic:

dealing with or knowing a subject thoroughly or completely

answered May 01 '15 at 09:48

Sobrique

293

2

That also feels a bit too much like it's promising a fully definitive KB - I'm more angling for a sort of "most of your problems will be solved here" kind of word – Joe May 01 '15 at 09:50
Surely that's already implicit in 'knowedgebase'? – Sobrique May 01 '15 at 09:52
This is a fair point. It's certainly possible that I just don't need a qualifying word; marketing-speak sometimes makes you forget that you already have a word saying that thing :P – Joe May 01 '15 at 09:57

Rich C · Answer 4 · 2015-05-01T17:50:28.710

0

"While not definitive, the knowledge base provides a valuable resource for users."

definitive as in:

most reliable or complete, as of a text, author, criticism, study, or the like

edited May 01 '15 at 17:50

answered May 01 '15 at 14:36

Rich C

101

Extensive was already suggested. – curiousdannii May 01 '15 at 15:41
1

The key words are "not definitive". I can remove the use of the word extensive though. – Rich C May 01 '15 at 16:56
Oh, I see now. Definitiveness carries the idea of officialness and finality I think - but there are lots of official and final documents which are not fully comprehensive. – curiousdannii May 01 '15 at 17:37
@curiousdannii Good point. – Rich C May 01 '15 at 17:51

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered May 01 '15 at 10:11

vo·lu·mi·nous

3 a : having or marked by great volume : bulky, large, swelling
specifically : full

b : seeming to fill a large indefinite space

c : numerous

4 a : filling or capable of filling a large volume or several volumes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

score -1 · Answer 6 · edited May 01 '15 at 18:28

-1

How about a wealth of information?

edited May 01 '15 at 18:28

Hellion

59,365

answered May 01 '15 at 17:25

Matt H

7

What is a similar word to "comprehensive" that doesn't suggest absolutely everything will be covered?

6 Answers6