textbook

noun

1. 1

   A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges.

adjective

1. 1

   Of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.

   These figures are just too textbook, or papyrus-like, as if this information came off of a shelf in the Library of Alexandria

2. 2

   figurativeHaving the typical characteristics of some class of phenomenon, so that it might be included as an example in a textbook.

   textbook case

   Every night had been clear and star-studded, the progression of the moon through its phases absolutely textbook, its dance with the planets visible in the ecliptic...

   Involuntarily it is practiced all the time, for instance when Shylock at the beginning of the trial describes himself as a very textbook example of a very bad and very common illness.

   It's absolutely textbook! / The amount of trust Mia had in her future self was infinitesimal. Thus, she couldn't help but feel like there was something off about this name. / It's too textbook!

3. 3

   figurativeDone exactly correctly, in an exemplary way that might be described in a textbook.

   Well done everyone, the tree fell exactly where we planned. That was textbook.

   […]Hilts and the commandant spar verbally in a very textbook shot/reverse shot scene, back and forth, “over the shoulder” of one interlocutor and then the other […]

4. 4

   figurativeLearned from, or as if learned from, a textbook, as opposed to personal discovery or experience.

   He has a textbook understanding of company law but no practical experience of litigation.

   So a lot of women will be very textbook if something meets the definition of sexual harassment, whereas a lot of men are more laissez-faire.

Forms

plural

textbooks

comparative

more textbook

superlative

most textbook