textbook

American  

[tekst-book] / ˈtɛkstˌbʊk /

noun

• textbooks
  plural

1. a book used by students as a standard work for a particular branch of study.

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adjective

1. pertaining to, characteristic of, or seemingly suitable for inclusion in a textbook; typical; classic.

   a textbook case.

textbook British  

/ ˈtɛkstˌbʊk /

noun

1. 1. a book used as a standard source of information on a particular subject

   2. ( as modifier )

      a textbook example

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• textbookish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• textbooks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of textbook

First recorded in 1720–30; text + book

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

textbook textbooks

"By revisiting a long-standing textbook explanation with modern tools, our work aims to improve chemistry education and strengthen the conceptual foundations that support chemical innovation."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

Apple’s CEO succession plan is a textbook case of standard corporate protocol, according to organizational experts.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

In the ashes there is a charred page from an English language textbook: "My name is William, I'm from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It's a beautiful city."

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

He is a longtime Harvard professor and author of a bestselling economics textbook.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

I spent the morning and afternoon trying to decipher the history textbook, without much success.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

"We realized that the discrepancy between modern computational data and textbooks was larger than we had anticipated."

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

Without a mention there, the illness does not get discussed in medical school textbooks; students do not learn about it, and people do not talk about it much.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Some say customers aren’t exactly paying for innovation, but rather for decades of familiarity on the educator side — along with textbooks that build the calculators into their curricula.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

All the information about the event was as fresh in my mind as though I’d just read about it in one of my textbooks.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• workbook