book learning
noun
knowledge acquired by reading books, as distinguished from that obtained through observation and experience.
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booklearned.
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book learning
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book-learning
book-learningnounknowledge gained from books rather than from direct personal experience
book learning
Americannoun
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knowledge acquired by reading books, as distinguished from that obtained through observation and experience.
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formal education.
She thought that common sense was just as important as book learning.
book-learning
British
noun
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knowledge gained from books rather than from direct personal experience
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formal education
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of book learning
First recorded in 1580–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and Man About Montecito, isn’t one for book learning, he reminds readers of his new memoir, “Spare.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
And while that book learning was fine and all, neither school taught Berhalter the subject he really wanted to study, which was soccer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
“While book learning was the star of the show up until now, practical, hands-on learning has come into the picture.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2020
Here amid the down-on-their luck cars and acrid smells in the garage, there were moments of puzzlement and flashes of excitement as students brought their book learning to real-world leaks and electrical shorts.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2018
But what is important to Gilbert is not just book learning, or even the performing of experiments.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
But I think his years of experience may be blinding him to the reality of how new hires with big ideas and fancy book-learning are perceived in the workplace.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2022
It was too ambitious, lurid with “a vile overdaubing with a coat of book-learning and mysticism.”
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 22, 2019
They did not know much about book-learning, but they knew good building materials when they saw them.
From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014
Rush, and Rush fans, are long used to being the butt of the joke – kimono-wearing, book-learning, heavily moustachioed Canadian prog-rock overlords never seemed likely to be at the cutting edge of cool.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2011
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is furious to find Michael Cassio, ‘a great arithmetician’, whose knowledge of warfare is all book-learning, has been promoted ahead of him.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
