Readerly
adj
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Characteristic of readers.
"It+was+an+extraordinary+display+of+true+readerly+love+—+a+bunch+of+buffs+giving+a+contemporary+genre+writer+the+Shakespearean+variorum+treatment+on+their+own+time."
- 2 Of or relating to the reader.
"Nevertheless, the dream element and over power to haunt come at a certain readerly price. The poem abounds in passages that will leave an unprepared audience bewildered."
Example
More examples"It+was+an+extraordinary+display+of+true+readerly+love+—+a+bunch+of+buffs+giving+a+contemporary+genre+writer+the+Shakespearean+variorum+treatment+on+their+own+time."
Etymology
From reader + -ly.
More for "readerly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.