Dewey Decimal System
noun
a frequently used system of library book classification and arrangement with ten main subject classes
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Dewey Decimal System
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Dewey decimal system
Dewey decimal systemA system used in libraries for the classification of books and other publications. It uses the numbers 000 to 999 to cover the general fields of knowledge and subdivides each field by the use of decimals and letters. Named after its inventor, Melvil Dewey.
Dewey Decimal System
British
/ ˈdjuːɪ /
noun
Dewey decimal system
Cultural
Etymology
Origin of Dewey Decimal System
C19: named after Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), US educator who invented the system
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:
If Judy says she can’t make it as a clerk, she’ll stay up all night learning the Dewey Decimal System.
From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2025
She criticized the Dewey Decimal System for including “overwhelmingly Christian” works in a 2013 article called “Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction.”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
I have no idea where this book, translated gracefully from the Dutch by David McKay, will land in the Dewey Decimal System.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
“I don’t use the Dewey Decimal System or anything, but I think people need to easily find books,” Dixon says.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2017
Visitors also encountered the latest and arguably most important organizational invention of the century, the vertical file, created by Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
In my own library visits I'd also frequently wind up with something from a different place in the Dewey decimal system too.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2023
Hummel says, “I know librarians who organize their home libraries by the Dewey decimal system, but I am not one of them. That said, I do have my books organized quite intentionally by topic.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
Think of the Dewey decimal system in a library.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2018
For instance, after years of shelving books as a volunteer at a local library, K.C.’s parahippocampus learned the Dewey decimal system, even though he had no idea why he knew it.
From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2014
A gangly seventh grader, a foot taller than any of her competitors, Marjory Muldauer had memorized the ten categories of the Dewey decimal system before she entered preschool.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
