tome

1 of 2

noun

ˈtōm 

1

: book

especially : a large or scholarly book

2

: a volume forming part of a larger work

-tome

2 of 2

noun combining form

1

: part : segment

myotome

2

: cutting instrument

microtome

Synonyms

Noun

• book
• volume

Examples of tome in a Sentence

Noun

a long tome on European history

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The popular tome spent 13 straight weeks on the NY Times bestsellers list and debuted at No. 1 on Amazon, according to the streamer. —Jessica Bennett, VIBE.com, 13 Feb. 2025

The list includes adaptations of Wilson tomes like Crooked Tree, IceFire and Second Fire. —Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Feb. 2025

This doesn’t seem to be the year for advice books, scholarly tomes or rigor of any sort. —Judy Knotts, Austin American-Statesman, 27 Dec. 2024

And, when first picking up a copy of Christopher Kimball and Milk Street’s latest tome, the weight of angst may still reveal its nasty head. —Kristin L. Wolfe, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

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

Noun combining form

Greek tomos

First Known Use

Noun

1519, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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Kids Definition

tome

noun

ˈtōm 

: a big thick book