Standard Lemma guide

well-read

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌwɛl ˈɹɛd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Well informed and knowledgeable through having read extensively.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

highly educated; having extensive information or understanding

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • knowing instructors
  • a knowledgeable critic
  • a knowledgeable audience

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: knowing, knowledgeable, learned, lettered, well-educated

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

well informed or deeply versed through reading

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • respect for a well-read man
  • well-read in medieval history

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: وَاسِع الاطلاع — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Azerbaijani: mütaliəli — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Bulgarian: начетен (načeten) — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Catalan: lletrat — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Chinese Mandarin: 博覽群書的 /博览群书的 (bólǎn qúnshū de) — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Czech: sečtělý — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Danish: belæst — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Dutch: belezen — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Finnish: lukenut — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Finnish: oppinut — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • French: lettré — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • German: belesen — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Japanese: 多読の (tadoku no) — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Latin: tinctus litteris — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Norwegian Bokmål: belest — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Occitan: letrat — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Polish: oczytany — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Portuguese: versado — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Romanian: citit — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Russian: начи́танный (načítannyj) — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Serbo-Croatian: на̏чита̄н — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Serbo-Croatian: nȁčitān — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Slovak: sčítaný — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Spanish: leído — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Swedish: beläst — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Turkish: aydın — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively
  • Ukrainian: начи́таний (načýtanyj) — well informed and knowledgeable because of having read extensively