textbook
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of textbook
Explanation
A textbook is an informational book that you use specifically for a class at school. Your biology textbook might be so heavy that you dread lugging it to class. Textbooks are manuals written for instruction in a subject, rather than books you might read for fun. Today many students read textbooks in electronic form, rather than as bound hardcovers. Starting around the 19th century (with easy access to printing and standardized education in many parts of the world), textbooks became a common educational tool. Earlier, a textbook was a name for "a book with wide spaces between the lines."
Vocabulary lists containing textbook
Reading: Informational - Middle School
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Reading: Informational - Introductory
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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.
However, these natural versions usually do not contain the obvious central points found in textbook examples.
From Science Daily • May 14, 2026
He reckons that whether one does or does not consider the market to be showing bubble characteristics, the recent surge in momentum plays “is textbook parabolic price action.”
From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026
Powell, speaking to students at Harvard University, laid out the textbook case for patience: Energy disruptions tend to be short-lived, and monetary policy works too slowly to counteract them in real time.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
If proven, this behavior is a textbook example of misconduct sanctionable by the bar.
From Slate • Mar. 11, 2026
Jasmine's was packed with every class's textbook and all the world's notebooks.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
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.
