as in literary
suggestive of the vocabulary used in books
"fealty" is a bookish synonym for "loyalty"
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Recent Examples of bookish
Angela’s bookish young son Jonathan (Danny Pintauro) and her gloriously uninhibited mother Mona (Katherine Helmond) rounded out the household.
—
Jp Mangalindan,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 June 2026
Patel grew up in a small village in the middle of England, performed with The Young Actors Company in Cambridge and turned professional at 17 — spending the next nine years playing the quiet, bookish Tamwar Masood on the British soap EastEnders.
—
Seija Rankin,
HollywoodReporter,
10 June 2026
For the city that produced the author, activist, actor and 19-time All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a bookish ectomorph with MVP-level talent is not entirely unheard of.
—
Leah Asmelash,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
For the uninitiated, author Donna Tartt is the undisputed queen of the ambient mystery with bookish flair.
—
Madeline Hirsch,
InStyle,
3 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for bookish
Jp Mangalindan,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 June 2026
Patel grew up in a small village in the middle of England, performed with The Young Actors Company in Cambridge and turned professional at 17 — spending the next nine years playing the quiet, bookish Tamwar Masood on the British soap EastEnders.
—
Seija Rankin,
HollywoodReporter,
10 June 2026
For the city that produced the author, activist, actor and 19-time All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a bookish ectomorph with MVP-level talent is not entirely unheard of.
—
Leah Asmelash,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
For the uninitiated, author Donna Tartt is the undisputed queen of the ambient mystery with bookish flair.
—
Madeline Hirsch,
InStyle,
3 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for bookish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bookish
literary
Adjective
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That sisterly correction, among a host of other elements as intangible and yet as instantly recognizable as great literary talent, is also part of what drives Lot 35 in Christie’s Exceptional Sale into its current stratosphere.
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Amazon Quarterly, a prominent lesbian literary arts journal, had ceased publication in 1975, and Ellenberger said there was a gap to fill.
Cite this Entry
“Bookish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bookish. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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