a long tome on European history
picked up a thick tome on the Roman Empire at a used book store
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tome.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Tome comes from Latin tomus, which comes from Greek tomos, meaning "section" or "roll of papyrus." Tomos comes from the Greek verb temnein, which means "to cut." In ancient times, some of the longest scrolls of papyrus occasionally were divided into sections. When it was first used in English in the 16th century, tome was a book that was a part of a multi-volume work. Now a tome is most often simply a large and often ponderous book.
hardback, hardcover, paper, paperback, paperbound, pocket book, pocket edition, softback, softcover, trade book, trade edition;
guidebook, handbook, how-to, manual;
catalog (or catalogue), cyclopedia (also cyclopaedia), dictionary, encyclopedia;
monograph, primer, text, textbook, tract, treatise;
album, almanac, anthology, casebook, chapbook, nonbook, omnibus, picture book;
See words that rhyme with tome Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for tome Spanish Central: Translation of tome Nglish: Translation of tome for Spanish speakers
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