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
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
The nine writers in our workshop were passionate, present, curious, rigorous, and, as a group, well-read across several languages.
—Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
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
But his shot was tame and well-read by Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair.
—Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 5 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
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
The nine writers in our workshop were passionate, present, curious, rigorous, and, as a group, well-read across several languages.
—Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
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
But his shot was tame and well-read by Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair.
—Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 5 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
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The turbulence of the past year brings to mind the sourcing strain of the 2020 pandemic—and the ways companies became more legally literate almost overnight as a matter of survival.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
24 Mar. 2026
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With the help of her best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan), boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich), and cine-literate nerds Randy (Jamie Kennedy) and Stu (Matthew Lillard), Sidney sets out to determine who’s behind the mask.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Education also plays a role, with more educated women tending to have fewer children.—
Manuela Castro,
CNN Money,
31 Mar. 2026
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Various strands of the opposition—ethnic minorities, leftists, and educated technocrats—appeared determined to block him, even at the price of leaving the regime in place.—
Azadeh Moaveni,
New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Land acknowledgments, protest movements, scholarly conversations, the UN themed decade, and the Indigenous Literature category on Lit Hub all speak to that.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
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Acuña contributed chapters in dozens of anthologies and scholarly texts and wrote numerous book reviews, several children’s books, scholarly articles and opinion pieces in academic journals, magazines, listservs and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.—
Dorany Pineda,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Well-read.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/well-read. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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