William Jewett Tenney (1814 at Newport, Rhode Island – 20 September 1883, at Newark, New Jersey) was an American author, editor and encyclopedist.

Graduating from Yale University in 1832 he studied medicine, but abandoned it for the law and, on being admitted to the bar, opened an office in New York.

In 1853 he entered the service of D. Appleton & Company, publishers, as editor, and, in addition to a large amount of literary and critical work, began for them, in 1861, the compilation of the Annual Cyclopædia which he continued till his death.

During a long residence at Elizabeth, New Jersey, he held several local public offices including that of collector of the port during James Buchanan's presidential administration.

He indexed T. H. Benton's "Abridgment of the Debates of Congress" and added a sixteenth volume to the series (New York 1857-60).