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
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
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
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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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
-
With her relentlessly melodic fourth album, Maitreya Corso (out today), Maya Hawke is starting to establish a sonic lane of her own, combining Aimee Mann-level musicality with hyper-literate, polygraph-test confessional lyrics.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
1 May 2026
Adjective
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Probably those who trust institutions the most, and who can sacrifice some efficiency for an outdated but fancy stamp of approval—in other words, the children of the wealthy and educated.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
5 May 2026
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The shutdown has piled new pressures on Iran’s once large and educated middle class, already struggling in the face of a prewar currency crash.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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About half of the ensembles were created within the past decade, which relays an of-the-times show versus an overly scholarly one.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
Footwear News,
4 May 2026
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Your confidence can grow when scientists have performed a bunch of related research that’s gone through peer review, been published in scholarly journals and mostly points in the same direction.—
Jeffrey A. Lee,
The Conversation,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Well-read.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/well-read. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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