as in literate
having or displaying advanced knowledge or education
any well-read person would recognize the quotation
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Recent Examples of well-read
Grandma Bobby is well-read and well-traveled, glamorous and opinionated (speaking of usually-right old women), the old-school, no-nonsense daughter of a girl who walked out of a pogrom and emigrated to New York.
—
Literary Hub, 7 May 2026
When the pandemic shut library doors, Bussey said e-books and audiobooks were what kept the local community well-read.
—Jack O'Connor, Chicago Tribune, 23 Apr. 2026
The stars were well-read and well-spoken, and academically motivated, some graduating in three years.
—Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 31 Mar. 2026
Alison Taylor, a professor of business and society at NYU’s Stern School of Business said being deeply well-read is becoming something of a luxury good—rare, valuable, and impossible to fake.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2026
Heeding these cryptic words some three decades later, the audacious (and well-read) impresario Tony Wilson opened the Haçienda together with the circle of post-punk musicians and designers involved with his label, Factory Records.
—Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2026
Joe Goldberg, Penn Badgley’s character in the Netflix thriller series You, is a bit of a bibliophile—and Badgley, too, is rather well-read.
—Mathias Rosenzweig, Vogue, 14 Oct. 2025
The same parents who built our algorithmic economy now limit their own children’s exposure to it, creating a new kind of digital divide—one where being unplugged and well-read are the ultimate luxuries.
—Liz Doe Stone, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Literary Hub, 7 May 2026
When the pandemic shut library doors, Bussey said e-books and audiobooks were what kept the local community well-read.
—Jack O'Connor, Chicago Tribune, 23 Apr. 2026
The stars were well-read and well-spoken, and academically motivated, some graduating in three years.
—Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 31 Mar. 2026
Alison Taylor, a professor of business and society at NYU’s Stern School of Business said being deeply well-read is becoming something of a luxury good—rare, valuable, and impossible to fake.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2026
Heeding these cryptic words some three decades later, the audacious (and well-read) impresario Tony Wilson opened the Haçienda together with the circle of post-punk musicians and designers involved with his label, Factory Records.
—Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2026
Joe Goldberg, Penn Badgley’s character in the Netflix thriller series You, is a bit of a bibliophile—and Badgley, too, is rather well-read.
—Mathias Rosenzweig, Vogue, 14 Oct. 2025
The same parents who built our algorithmic economy now limit their own children’s exposure to it, creating a new kind of digital divide—one where being unplugged and well-read are the ultimate luxuries.
—Liz Doe Stone, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for well-read
Adjective
-
The same product class today can be assembled by one technically literate person in a weekend using off-the-shelf models and a Lovable frontend.—
Gabriel Alin Zainescu,
Forbes.com,
9 May 2026
-
Fluency in artificial intelligence is increasingly a prerequisite in today's labor market, with employers across industries seeking AI-literate job candidates.—
Megan Cerullo,
CBS News,
6 May 2026
Adjective
-
Adults who are older, less educated, uninsured, or rural saw no meaningful increase.—
Jonathan Slater,
STAT,
13 May 2026
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Bird watchers can make educated guesses by looking at the birds' overall size, beak size, ankle thickness and vocal pitch at around 8 to 10 weeks old, the nonprofit said, adding sometimes the chicks sound like puppies.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
12 May 2026
Adjective
-
The individual who once grappled with learning disabilities emerged into a scholarly critical thinker.—
Jason Jones,
New York Times,
10 May 2026
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For most of his life, Mojtaba was not regarded as a religious scholar of significant theological authority or scholarly distinction.—
Hamidreza Azizi,
Time,
9 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Well-read.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/well-read. Accessed 19 May. 2026.
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