Pocketbook

//ˈpɒ.kɪt.bʊk// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A purse or handbag. US
  2. 2
    a container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women) wordnet
  3. 3
    A wallet for paper money. dated
  4. 4
    pocket-sized paperback book wordnet
  5. 5
    One's personal budget or financial capacity; the amount one can afford. figuratively
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    a pocket-size case for holding papers and paper money wordnet
  2. 7
    A small book, particularly (US) a paperback or (UK) notebook able to fit into a pocket (of any genre, from reference work to fine art).

    "The publishers brought out small format pocketbooks of the whole of their nature series."

  3. 8
    your personal financial means wordnet
  4. 9
    A small book, particularly (US) a paperback or (UK) notebook able to fit into a pocket (of any genre, from reference work to fine art).; A romance novel published as a small paperback. Philippines, broadly

Synonyms

All synonyms
bagwalletaccount bookaddress bookadversariaalbum

Example

More examples

"I get caught in the rain, I'm late for my date, and I lose my pocketbook. It's just one thing after another today."

Etymology

1610s, from pocket + book, popularized in its sense as a paperback by the success of Pocket Books in the United States after its 1939 launch.

Related phrases

champagne taste on a beer pocketbookpocketbook issue

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