reference book
Americannoun
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a book containing useful facts or specially organized information, as an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, yearbook, etc.
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Also called pass, passbook. South African. a domestic identity document formerly required to be carried by Black citizens.
noun
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a book, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, etc, from which information may be obtained
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another name for passbook
Etymology
Origin of reference book
First recorded in 1885–90
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.
The landmark legal reference book he edits, Black’s Law Dictionary, is as much a fixture of American courts as black robes, rosewood gavels and brass scales of justice.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2025
Instead of becoming “a full-throated rebuke” to the internet-driven decline of the reference book, the project sputtered to a halt.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2025
The first winner was Dr Nira Chamberlain, the first black mathematician to be included in the British reference book Who's Who and a vice-president of the professional body, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
From BBC • Jan. 10, 2025
Excited delirium is not listed in the standard reference book of mental health conditions, nor does it have its own diagnostic code under a system used by health professionals to identify diseases and disorders.
From Scientific American • Oct. 16, 2023
The book was so thick and hefty that I knew it was a reference book of some kind, a text, maybe even an encyclopedia.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
