Meaning & use

Bookish

adjective·Everyday

Last updated

Devoted to reading and studying; more familiar with knowledge from books than with practical or worldly experience.

See it in a sentence

As a child, she was quiet and bookish, always curled up with a novel.

His bookish knowledge of sailing didn't prepare him for his first storm at sea.

A note on using this word

"Bookish" can be used warmly to describe someone intellectually curious, or slightly critically to suggest they lack real-world experience.

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