textbook
Americannoun
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
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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.
He co-authored the influential textbook Quantum Optics, a resource that has educated generations of physicists.
From Science Daily • Jul. 5, 2026
My middle-school civics textbook barely dedicated a paragraph to this 1801 war between the U.S and a group of North African states, which has been described as “America’s first war on terrorism.”
From Salon • Jul. 4, 2026
But there could be, because the plot of “Young Washington” plays out with all the thrill of a textbook chapter.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 2, 2026
Microsoft is the textbook example of how to leverage parallel bets.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 22, 2026
Visualizing the problem in your head, you straighten the text, bold the faded equation, connect it to the page in the textbook.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
