bookworm
Americannoun
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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.
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.
Mary is a bookworm who draws her apt conclusions about human behavior from written wisdom.
From Salon • May 20, 2026
An under-the-radar prospect from Miami, Mendoza was such a bookworm in high school that some coaches stopped pursuing him because they questioned whether he really wanted to play football.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 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
As a child, she was a "bookworm" who loved attending acting classes and workshops.
From BBC • Nov. 10, 2024
Lester was a bookworm, and Flopears could just about read, though he had to point at each word.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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.
