Word.ws English Dictionary

by-the-books

by-the-books is the alternative form of by-the-book.

Meaning of by-the-book

Adjective

by-the-book (comparative more by-the-book, superlative most by-the-book)

  1. (idiomatic) Strictly adhering to rules, legal requirements, or official procedures.
    • Given the troubled Bayou State's long history of rogues and demagogues, the most unusual thing about Gov. Jindal may be his record of by-the-book ethics.2007 December 11, David von Drehle, “Bobby Jindal”, in Time

Forms of by-the-books

comparativemore by-the-books
superlativemost by-the-books

Questions about by-the-books

What is by-the-books the alternative form of?
By-the-books is the alternative form of by-the-book.

Words near by-the-books in the dictionary

  1. by-streets
  2. by-stroke
  3. by-strokes
  4. by-table
  5. by-the-book
  6. by-the-books
  7. by-the-by
  8. by-the-bye
  9. by-the-numbers
  10. by-the-wind sailor
  11. by-the-wind sailors

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by-the-books (page history and authors); by-the-book (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “by-the-books.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/by-the-books. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.