Bookworm

//ˈbʊk.wɜːm// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various insects that infest books.
  2. 2
    someone who spends a great deal of time reading wordnet
  3. 3
    An avid book reader. figuratively

    "“This,” remarked the sedate observer beside me, “is a bookworm,—one of those men who are born to gnaw dead thoughts. His clothes, you see, are covered with the dust of libraries."

  4. 4
    a person who pays more attention to formal rules and book learning than they merit wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bibliophilebibliognostbibliographerbibliokleptbibliolaterbibliolatrist

Example

More examples

"He is, so to speak, a bookworm."

Etymology

From book + worm.

Related phrases

book lover

More for "bookworm"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.