bookworm
Americannoun
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bookworms
plural
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a person devoted to reading or studying.
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any of various insects that feed on books, especially a booklouse.
noun
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a person excessively devoted to studying or reading
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any of various small insects that feed on the binding paste of books, esp the book louse
Usage
What does bookworm mean? A bookworm is someone who’s always reading, usually because they just love to read or because they’re studying or both. Bookworm is sometimes used negatively to make fun of people who love to read. But it is more commonly used in a positive way, especially by book lovers proudly calling themselves bookworms. Bookworm can also be used literally as a general name for any insect that eats books. Example: Bookworms usually have huge vocabularies, so be careful when you play one in Scrabble.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bookworm
Explanation
A bookworm is someone who loves to read. If you're a true bookworm, you'd rather spend Friday nights on the couch with a book than out at a party. Some people are bookworms from the moment they first learn to read, while others grow into their love of books and reading after encountering a particularly wonderful book. Even people who didn't love the "Harry Potter" series of books mostly concede that they created a whole generation of bookworms. The word bookworm originally referred to a variety of insects that infest and eat paper, including the pages of books.
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:
For his advocacy of English prose in the sweet and easy styles of Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift, the Scots bookworm has been heralded as “a founder of the study of English in universities.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
When assistant head teacher Rebecca Howell, a bookworm herself, walks into a classroom, a child will always bring her a book and ask her to read it.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025
You could be assigned a slovenly party animal who makes your life miserable or a studious bookworm you don’t see all semester.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025
I was a shy bookworm who loved reading Judy Blume books.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2023
She doesn’t say what she’d like you to get the Ph.D. in, but I assume Math rather than Greek, you dirty little bookworm.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
But unless your club is extraordinarily broad-minded, you might cause considerable consternation by exposing fellow bookworms to Mr. Warren-Smith’s gleeful, demented diversions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
For instance, if some bookworms want to stick to the west of downtown, they’ll still be in for quite a trip.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Flour-based glues come from the insides of wheat grains and include gluten — which bookworms love as much as the rest of us.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
"Bookworm" is a cute thing to call a voracious reader, but actual bookworms -- as well as microorganisms and time -- break down the flour pastes commonly used to keep old publications in one piece.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2024
Its brown icing was as full of holes as the binding of a book when bookworms have been gnawing at it for years.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
