textbook
Americannoun
-
textbooks
plural
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Reading: Informational - Introductory
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
See Examples For:
The data-center conflict is a textbook public-goods problem, in which AI users have an incentive to free-ride.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Their research examined how electronegative elements affect acidity and also produced results that did not fit conventional textbook descriptions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
After initial training, the model is like a math student who has read every math textbook ever written but has never been taught to converse about math or answer questions in a natural way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Apple’s CEO succession plan is a textbook case of standard corporate protocol, according to organizational experts.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
I noticed it in class when Mrs. Rouse asked her to read a passage out loud from the textbook.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
Priorities: Payne wants to make community colleges “cheaper, faster, better” in part by offering students more training for specific jobs and less expensive online textbooks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Even though they appear in medical textbooks, she tells me she's moved away from certain terms, including "failure to progress" - which describes labour not moving forward as expected.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The researchers' 2024 research concluded that textbooks had been describing this effect incorrectly for almost 100 years.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Barton and his son Tim supplied evidence from Barton’s archive showing the Ten Commandments in early textbooks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
They threw out old textbooks and implemented new ones.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
