perusal

[ puh-roo-zuhl ]

noun

1. a reading:

   a perusal of the current books.

2. the act of perusing; survey; scrutiny:

   A more careful perusal yields this conclusion.

Other Words From

• prepe·rusal adjective
• repe·rusal noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of perusal¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; peruse + -al ²

Example Sentences

One thing that struck me during my voyeuristic perusal of the various tales of carnage from last week’s marathons was the way many people who’d had a rough day nevertheless sounded reassuringly upbeat.

From Outside Online

Viewing chairs on a slowly rotating platform allow a comfortable, neck-relaxed perusal.

From Washington Post

Any casual perusal of MSNBC or The New York Times reflects this bias.

From The Daily Beast

[A] quick perusal of Hagel's syllabi reveals a far deeper concern: Hagel is addicted to... hackery.

From The Daily Beast

Here's a Kaiser Family Foundation paper on the subject for your further perusal.

From The Daily Beast

A year later, casual perusal of HGTV and design catalogues indicates that the rich are indeed moving away from stainless.

From The Daily Beast

But a perusal of the code shows employees ignored protections already in place.

From The Daily Beast

By a “single” or “one reading,” I mean a single careful perusal in conformity to the requirements of my System.

From Project Gutenberg

What you send in a letter, is, as a general rule, intended for the perusal of one person only.

From Project Gutenberg

Should you bestow upon my letter a fair and impartial perusal, it will neither be useless to you nor to my country.

From Project Gutenberg

We can conscientiously recommend 'Neutronics,' by Dr. Napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers.

From Project Gutenberg

The same sort of abstraction attended my perusal of other things, except, occasionally, a few passages of scripture.

From Project Gutenberg