paperback

noun

pa·​per·​back ˈpā-pər-ˌbak 

: a book with a flexible paper binding

paperback adjective

or less commonly paperbacked

ˈpā-pər-ˌbakt 

Examples of paperback in a Sentence

The store sells both paperbacks and hardcovers.

The book is sold only in paperback.

Recent Examples on the Web

The paperback edition of his translation of Homer’s Odyssey was released in April by the University of Chicago Press. — Daniel Mendelsohn, The New York Review of Books, 15 July 2026

During intermission, people thumbed through the small paperback with its stars-and-stripes cover, afterwards, slipping it into their purses and pockets. — Chloe Veltman, NPR, 10 July 2026

Genre has been a dominant publishing force since at least the nineteenth century, with pulp magazines and serialized paperbacks providing mass entertainment for readers of almost any age and demographic. — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 8 July 2026

Reaching for a film camera instead of a phone, or a paperback instead of a feed, creates a moment of friction, and that friction is exactly the point. — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 7 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1843, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for paperback

• almanac
• camelback
• cardiac
• carryback
• cluniac
• diamondback
• lumberjack
• maniac
• piggyback
• quarterback
• saddleback
• stickleback

Kids Definition

paperback

noun

pa·​per·​back ˈpä-pər-ˌbak 

: a book with a flexible paper binding

paperback adjective