as in books
a set of printed sheets of paper bound together between covers and forming a work of fiction or nonfiction
picked up a thick tome on the Roman Empire at a used book store
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Recent Examples of tomes
Whitney, a formidable collector of vintage tomes and 19th- and 20th-century European painting, inherited many of the items in his rare book collection from his mother, the poet Helen Hay Whitney.
—
News Desk, Artforum, 21 Apr. 2026
This January, many such tomes on my shelves suddenly seemed to have offered all along nothing more than obfuscation, the opposite of illumination.
—Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
The canal house—formerly a biblical museum—responds in kind, with religious tomes replaced by a commanding bust of Darwin himself.
—Karen Burshtein, Time, 12 Mar. 2026
Some gravitate towards glossy fashion retrospectives; others prefer weighty interior design tomes or evocative travel volumes that capture a specific moment in time–the Italian coastline at the height of summer, for example.
—Hannah Coates, Vogue, 26 Feb. 2026
One of the world’s largest exhibitions of olden literature is gathering more than a hundred booksellers from across the globe to share their choicest wares — rare tomes, illustrations, maps, historical documents and random ephemera guaranteed to level-up your bookshelf and walls.
—John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2026
The philosopher Aristotle wrote tomes on morality and human behavior.
—Tara Sonenshine, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2026
Their selection of Florida-specific books, cookbooks, and coffee table tomes make the perfect present for friends and family.
—Meredith Lindemon, Southern Living, 9 Feb. 2026
The other 19% constitute freaks at the far end, who read 10 or more tomes.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 5 Jan. 2026
News Desk, Artforum, 21 Apr. 2026
This January, many such tomes on my shelves suddenly seemed to have offered all along nothing more than obfuscation, the opposite of illumination.
—Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
The canal house—formerly a biblical museum—responds in kind, with religious tomes replaced by a commanding bust of Darwin himself.
—Karen Burshtein, Time, 12 Mar. 2026
Some gravitate towards glossy fashion retrospectives; others prefer weighty interior design tomes or evocative travel volumes that capture a specific moment in time–the Italian coastline at the height of summer, for example.
—Hannah Coates, Vogue, 26 Feb. 2026
One of the world’s largest exhibitions of olden literature is gathering more than a hundred booksellers from across the globe to share their choicest wares — rare tomes, illustrations, maps, historical documents and random ephemera guaranteed to level-up your bookshelf and walls.
—John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2026
The philosopher Aristotle wrote tomes on morality and human behavior.
—Tara Sonenshine, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2026
Their selection of Florida-specific books, cookbooks, and coffee table tomes make the perfect present for friends and family.
—Meredith Lindemon, Southern Living, 9 Feb. 2026
The other 19% constitute freaks at the far end, who read 10 or more tomes.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 5 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tomes
books
Noun
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Since May 1996, a group of neighbors has met almost every month to talk about books.—
Maggie Penman,
Washington Post,
1 May 2026
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There are also samples of children’s programs from the 1800s and early 1900s, as well as small leather school attendance books that were handwritten by the founders of the church.—
Myrna Petlicki,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tomes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tomes. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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