Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Given to, characterized by, or resulting from the habitual reading of books; studious.
- adjective Relying chiefly on book learning rather than practical experience; impractical or unworldly.
- adjective Literary, formal, or erudite. Used of language.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to books; literary: as, “bookish skill,”
- Given to reading; fond of study; hence, more acquainted with books than with men; familiar with books, but not with practical life: as, “a bookish man,”
- Learned; stilted; pedantic: applied either to individuals or to diction: as, a bookish expression.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with men; learned from books.
- adjective Characterized by a method of expression generally found in books; formal; labored; pedantic.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Given to
reading ;fond of study; better acquainted withbooks than with people;learned from books. - adjective
Characterized by a method ofexpression generally found in books.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective characterized by diligent study and fondness for reading
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The work of narrative to pose a problem and then solve it with perfect closure is known as the rescuing function, and I guess that when we needed rescue, it was there in bookish form, even if not there abundantly in reality.
Agatha Christie and Guilt « Tales from the Reading Room 2009
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March 16, 2006 18: 49 tuba: simon bookish is great. so are his remixes, esp the grizzly bear one, whom you all should really write about one of these days .... phiiliip's remix is fun too.
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Literature is no longer "bookish" -- but practical, social, propagandist.
Studies in Early Victorian Literature Frederic Harrison 1877
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Avoid what are called bookish, inkhorn, terms; shun words that have passed out of use, and those that have no footing in the language -- foreign words, words newly coined, and slang.
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
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He is not what may be called a bookish preacher -- that is to say, his sermons do not smell of the lamb.
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Like Paris handsome [34] and like Hector brave, but as pious as Aeneas; "a rich fellow enough," with blood hopelessly blue and morals spotlessly copy-bookish -- in other words, a Sir Charles
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 George Saintsbury 1889
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As always the 'scientists' are described as bookish nerds who bore policy makers and reporters with p-values.
ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science Mike none@example.com 2010
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As always the 'scientists' are described as bookish nerds who bore policy makers and reporters with p-values.
ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science Mike none@example.com 2010
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Bogosian called the bookish president-elect "in the broadest sense of the word, a reader."
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Bogosian called the bookish president-elect "in the broadest sense of the word, a reader."
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