tome

1 of 2

noun

ˈtōm 

1

: book

especially : a large or scholarly book

2

: a volume forming part of a larger work

-tome

2 of 2

noun combining form

1

: part : segment

myotome

2

: cutting instrument

microtome

Synonyms

Noun

• book
• paperback

Examples of tome in a Sentence

Noun

a long tome on European history

picked up a thick tome on the Roman Empire at a used book store

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

These tomes for tots tend to fall into thematic categories, the most prominent being perseverance and individualism. —Sloane Crosley, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025

Neil Aspinall, the 368-page tome also boasts 1,300 photos, documents, artwork and other memorabilia from the band’s treasure chests. —Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2025

Perhaps the most niche, though, was author Thomas Pynchon, now 88 and considered the last of the great American novelists, penning doorstop tomes such as the 1973 classic Gravity’s Rainbow. —Damon Wise, Deadline, 19 Aug. 2025

Easy-peasy, tap into the vast tome of psychology experiments that have been performed endlessly on all sorts of people for many decades. —Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin tomus, from Greek tomos section, roll of papyrus, tome, from temnein to cut; akin to Middle Irish tamnaid he lops, Polish ciąć to cut, and perhaps to Latin tondēre to shear

Noun combining form

Greek tomos

First Known Use

Noun

1519, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for tome

• brome
• chrome
• comb
• combe
• crome
• dome
• acrosome
• aerodrome
• catacomb
• centrosome
• chromosome
• cytochrome

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Kids Definition

tome

noun

ˈtōm 

: a big thick book