from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or resembling a book.
- adj. Fond of books; studious.
- adj. Relying chiefly on book learning: took a bookish rather than a pragmatic approach in solving the problem.
- adj. Pedantic; dull. See Synonyms at pedantic.
- adj. Literary and formal in tone. Used of words.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with people; learned from books.
- adj. Characterized by a method of expression generally found in books.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with men; learned from books.
- adj. Characterized by a method of expression generally found in books; formal; labored; pedantic.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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 WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. characterized by diligent study and fondness for reading
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.
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.
Literature is no longer "bookish" -- but practical, social, propagandist.
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.
He is not what may be called a bookish preacher -- that is to say, his sermons do not smell of the lamb.
Like Paris handsome  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
As always the 'scientists' are described as bookish nerds who bore policy makers and reporters with p-values.
Bogosian called the bookish president-elect "in the broadest sense of the word, a reader."
Taylor is creating extreme stress and mental abuse in that segment of the population known as the bookish Calvinist and / or Bibliophile.
I wouldn't really classify her as "bookish," either.