bookish
Americanadjective
-
given or devoted to reading or study.
-
more acquainted with books than with real life.
-
of or relating to books; literary.
-
stilted; pedantic.
- Synonyms:
- scholastic, academic
adjective
-
fond of reading; studious
-
consisting of or forming opinions or attitudes through reading rather than direct personal experience; academic
a bookish view of life
-
of or relating to books
a bookish career in publishing
Other Word Forms
- bookishly adverb
- bookishness noun
- nonbookish adjective
- nonbookishly adverb
- nonbookishness noun
- overbookish adjective
- overbookishly adverb
- overbookishness noun
- unbookish adjective
- unbookishly adverb
- unbookishness noun
Etymology
Origin of bookish
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.
He seemed a bookish sort of fellow, with a serious face and heavy straight eyebrows that sloped downward over his dark eyes.
From Literature
Daddy would have stood for a moment, taking in all the details and admiring the bookish young men and women scurrying past on their way to class.
From Literature
But he kept coming back to a classic: a slender, bookish typeface famously used in Apple’s “Think Different” campaign.
His carefully rehearsed lines and bookish glasses earned the self-confessed geek the unwelcome nickname of "Robot Jetten" in his early career.
From Barron's
From her bookish Ohio upbringing to her early forays into feature writing, her anecdotes sing with the pleasure of a person born to her passion and purpose.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
