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.
They do something just as important: they show that the story of human origins was more crowded, more competitive, and more unpredictable than the familiar textbook version suggests.
From Science Daily • May 16, 2026
However, these natural versions usually do not contain the obvious central points found in textbook examples.
From Science Daily • May 14, 2026
The reality is that Mendeleev had a contract to produce a chemistry textbook.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026
Financial markets by their nature don’t follow a script, so chart watchers can’t help but get excited when they see a textbook chart pattern appear in a widely followed index.
From MarketWatch • May 12, 2026
I almost left the money on the counter and disappeared, but Mrs. Lynch appeared with a thin textbook and placed it on the surface in front of me.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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.
