a book prepared for use in schools or colleges
"his economics textbook is in its tenth edition"
"the professor wrote the text that he assigned students to buy"
A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges.
"The professor handed out the textbook to help students prepare for the upcoming exam on quantum physics."
In plain English: A textbook is a book used for learning specific subjects at school that contains lessons, facts, and practice problems.
"That case study is perfect because it illustrates exactly what we see in every textbook chapter on market crashes."
Usage: Use "textbook" as an adjective before nouns like example ("a textbook case") rather than after them when describing something that perfectly illustrates a concept. Avoid using it interchangeably with general reading materials if the context specifically requires formal instruction or academic study guides.
Of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.
"The lecture was so dry and full of rigid examples that it felt completely textbooky."
In plain English: Textbook describes something that is exactly as it should be, following all the rules perfectly without any mistakes.
"The exam questions were so typical that they felt like textbook examples."
The word textbook is a straightforward combination of the words text and book. It was formed to describe a book specifically containing written material for study or reference.