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definitions

reference book

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR reference book ON THESAURUS.COM

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 carried by black citizens.

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RELATED WORDS

directory, almanac, thesaurus, dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, wordbook

Nearby words

  1. refectory table,
  2. refel,
  3. refer,
  4. referee,
  5. reference,
  6. reference electrode,
  7. reference frame,
  8. reference group,
  9. reference mark,
  10. reference values

Origin of reference book

First recorded in 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for reference book

  • He declared that a writer who used such a reference-book ought to 116 be deprived of his paper and ink.

    Waiting for Daylight|Henry Major Tomlinson

  • Always make a point of entering the errata with a pencil in the margins of every reference-book that you acquire.

    The Book-Hunter at Home|P. B. M. Allan
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