as in colloquial
used in or suitable for speech and not formal writing
a refreshingly unbookish talk on how dictionaries get made
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Recent Examples of unbookish
His parents, Evan Sr. and Elton, were members in good standing of the stolid upper middle class, active in community affairs, anti-intellectual and unbookish.
—
Marc Weingarten, WSJ, 7 Jan. 2022
Marc Weingarten, WSJ, 7 Jan. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unbookish
Adjective
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The realism, though, comes in the particularity of the Spanish dialogue, the cultural exchanges, and colloquial understandings that run through this community — and from Mexico to the United States.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
19 Mar. 2026
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The country that lays colloquial claim to the pastime has historically underperformed, quite clearly because other nations were simply trying harder in the form of better players agreeing to participate.—
Hannah Keyser,
CNN Money,
12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Translated into many vernacular languages, the poetry and philosophy of Firdausi, Attar, Rumi, Hafez, Sa‘di, Nizami, Ibn Sina, and Nizam al-Mulk assumed a canonical authority across Asia.—
Pankaj Mishra,
The New York Review of Books,
13 Mar. 2026
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Language, Chandler protests, lives and flourishes in bent rules, vernacular expressions—the unruly stuff of life.—
Jake Lundberg,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The service Service is friendly, but informal, reflecting the relaxed Malibu energy.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
19 Mar. 2026
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That reflects poorly on the speaker, who has an informal rule that no major bill will move to the floor unless at least 60 of his chamber’s 78 Democrats support it.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unbookish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unbookish. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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