reference book

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noun

a book containing useful facts or specially organized information, as an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, yearbook, etc.

Also called pass, passbook. South African. a domestic identity document formerly required to be carried by Black citizens.

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Origin of reference book

First recorded in 1885–90

Words nearby reference book

refectory table, refel, refer, referee, reference, reference book, reference electrode, reference frame, reference group, reference mark, reference values

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use reference book in a sentence

Yet this, in the end, is a book from which one emerges sad, gloomy, disenchanted, at least if we agree to take it seriously.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Submission is less a novel of ideas than a political book, and of the most subversive kind.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In 2011 LGBT media outlet Queerty took the app to task for allegedly deleting accounts that made reference to being trans.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem|David Levesley|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Her latest book, Heretic: The Case for a Muslim Reformation, will be published in April by HarperCollins.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Our Duty Is to Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive|Ayaan Hirsi Ali|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

He then provides some insight into his psyche - complete with Animal House reference.
Huckabee 2016: Bend Over and Take It Like a Prisoner!|Olivia Nuzzi|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The supernaturalist alleges that religion was revealed to man by God, and that the form of this revelation is a sacred book.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
But Mrs. Dodd, the present vicar's wife, retained the precious prerogative of choosing the book to be read at the monthly Dorcas.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
A small book, bound in full purple calf, lay half hidden in a nest of fine tissue paper on the dressing-table.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
She did not need a great cook-book; She knew how much and what it took To make things good and sweet and light.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
Again the sallow fingers began to play with the book-covers, passing from one to another, but always slowly and gently.
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens

British Dictionary definitions for reference book

reference book

noun

a book, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, etc, from which information may be obtained

Southern African another name for passbook (def. 4)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

reference book

Origin of reference book

Words nearby reference book

Words related to reference book

How to use reference book in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for reference book