workbook
Americannoun
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workbooks
plural
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a manual of operating instructions.
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a book designed to guide the work of a student by inclusion of questions, exercises, etc.
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a book in which a record is kept of work completed or planned.
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Digital Technology. a file that contains worksheets, or multiple sections, usually in spreadsheet applications.
noun
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an exercise book or textbook used for study, esp a textbook with spaces for answers
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a book of instructions for some process
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a book in which is recorded all work done or planned
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of workbook
Explanation
A school text that includes space for you to write or do practice problems is a workbook. If you find your vocabulary workbook dull and tedious, ask your teacher if you can use Vocabulary.com instead! Simply put, a workbook is a book that you can do work in. Usually, workbooks are paperbacks filled with problems or exercises that you're meant to do right in the workbook, rather than on a separate sheet of paper. Elementary school students might have workbooks for practicing printing letters or doing simple math, while high school students may use a workbook to prepare for taking a test like the SAT.
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:
Attendees in one session were directed to write down their “unproductive thoughts” and assess if they were based on facts, according to a copy of the workbook seen by the Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
The book is part self-help book, with facts about the perimenopause and menopause transition; part memoir; part practical workbook with tools and resources; and part humor book, brimming with Sanders’ raw and authentic comedic style.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2026
Questions in the ethics workbook include “What, if anything, could Lisa have done or thought about to make better decisions?” and “What are the potential and actual consequences of Principal Skinner’s decisions?”
From Seattle Times ● May 17, 2024
His workbook from 1945 showed homemakers and D.I.Y. types how to impose whimsy on their own lives and furniture via upcycling.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
The workbook was called The Palmer Method, but the title was not printed; it was handwritten in big, oversized, sober-looking letters, slanting to the right.
From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz
Provided with workbooks, easel pads and Sharpies, they arrived ready to game out responses to some of AI’s biggest risks—to jobs, the economy, political stability.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
Funding to schools for road safety workbooks and calendars were also cut by DfI in 2023.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2025
I found much-needed wisdom in essay collections, in workbooks for children, even in a “field guide” by an environmental humanist who has spent years unpacking these feelings with her students.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024
Hunt published workbooks and a how-to book and was generally regarded, in his flamboyant capes and hats, as the ne plus ultra of family-friendly midcentury bohemia.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
I took the penmanship workbooks from the girl in front of me, kept my copy, and passed the rest to Andrew Carr.
From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz
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.
