View synonyms for tome

tome

[ tohm ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a book, especially a very heavy, large, or learned book.
a volume forming a part of a larger work.

-tome

a combining form with the meanings “cutting instrument” ( microtome; osteotome ), “segment, somite” ( sclerotome ), used in the formation of compound words.

tome

/ təʊm /

noun

a large weighty book
one of the several volumes of a work

-tome

combining form

indicating an instrument for cutting
osteotome

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tome¹

First recorded in 1510–20; from French, from Latin tomus, from Greek tómos “slice, piece, roll of paper, book,” akin to témnein “to cut”

Origin of tome²

Combining form representing Greek tomḗ a cutting; tómos a cut, slice; -tomon (neuter), -tomos (masculine) -cutting (adj.)

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tome¹

C16: from French, from Latin tomus section of larger work, from Greek tomos a slice, from temnein to cut; related to Latin tondēre to shear

Origin of tome²

from Greek tomē a cutting, tomos a slice, from temnein to cut

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Example Sentences

It was an astonishing personal library, her friends recalled: a collection on art, fashion, history and design tomes that bowed even the sturdiest shelving.

From Los Angeles Times

Adapting the Warhammer universe and its vast tomes of lore - background information about the different races and characters within it - can be a challenge.

From BBC

Publishers have given us a lot to love this year, including tomes about Hollywood, Pride and California landscapes, and cookbooks sampling the flavors of Mexico, Africa, Latin America and Vietnam.

From Los Angeles Times

His book bomb - a legal tome loaded with explosives hidden in a Cadbury cocoa tin - would have killed its target, a British magistrate, if he had opened it.

From BBC

In the early 1900s, the conservationist and anthropologist Madison Grant, who helped establish Glacier National Park and the Bronx Zoo, wrote pseudoscientific tomes about the coming extinction of white people.

From Salon

Related Words

Tom, Dick and Jerry tomentose

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