tome

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noun \ ˈtōm \

Definition of tome

1 :book; especially :a large or scholarly book

2 :a volume forming part of a larger work

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Examples of tome in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of tome from the Web

Add to that Powell's Books' new and used tomes, live musical performances, art exhibits and lots of options for local food, beverages and shopping, including Stumptown Coffee Roasters and a Made in Oregon shop.

— kate silver, chicagotribune.com, "Butterfly garden and golf? 9 airports with insane amenities," 18 Aug. 2017
At 342 pages, the tome by Oscar-winning animator Richard Williams (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) is one of the school’s canonical texts.

— robert ito, Los Angeles Magazine, "These Female Animators are Redrawing an Industry’s Gender Lines," 18 Aug. 2017
In this library, instead of tomes divided into fiction and nonfiction, books are grouped by husbandry, conservation and animal species.

— meg jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "This librarian makes sure the Milwaukee County Zoo is well-read," 26 July 2017
Sadly, neither of the new tomes was written by J. K. Rowling, the creator of the series.

— chris morris, Fortune, "Two New Harry Potter Books Coming This October," 18 July 2017
Bookworms, meanwhile, will be pleased to know that tomes from the duo's library will also be available.

— perri ormont blumberg, Southern Living, "Hundreds of Vivien Leigh's Most Cherished Items Could Be Yours–For the Right Price," 15 July 2017
Those eager to further elucidate the texts can access The Book of Magical Charms online, as well as the other two tomes.

— jenn gidman, Fox News, "Can you read this witch spell? A Chicago library needs you," 14 July 2017
The book hails from rising tech company and publisher Inkshares, which will release the tome via its Geek & Sundry imprint July 25.

— borys kit, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Alice Through the Looking Glass' Director to Helm Sci-Fi 'Punch Escrow' Movie (Exclusive)," 14 July 2017
Some readers will be aghast that chapters end with bullet-point summaries and questions, evoking the worst of unctuous business tomes.

— The Economist, "A new way to workWhat will business technology look like tomorrow?," 13 July 2017

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.

Did You Know?

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.

Origin and Etymology of tome

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

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First Known Use: 1519

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