reference works

Cultural  

1. Books and other works that contain useful facts and information, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibliographies.

---

Example Sentences

His walls are lined with shelves of well-thumbed books, from his childhood comic collection to reference works on art and anthropology, Victoriana and zoology.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2024

The summaries, overviews, and definitions in general reference works can help you decide whether to pursue a topic further and where to turn next for information.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

Its storage disks were filled with digitized reference works, Wikipedia entries and electronic books.

From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2021

Thus, in “Tell Me How You Organize Your Books” he describes his study and the reference works he consults most often, starting with the Oxford Companion to English Literature and the Oxford Classical Dictionary.

From Washington Post • Feb. 17, 2016

In fact, these reference works, with their careful attention to history, literature, and actual usage, are the most adamant debunkers of grammatical nonsense.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker