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Manual vs Textbook - What's the difference?

manual | textbook |

As nouns the difference between manual and textbook

is that manual is a handbook while textbook is a coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges.

As adjectives the difference between manual and textbook

is that manual is performed with the hands (of an activity) while textbook is of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.

As a proper noun Manual

is a given name derived from Spanish: a rare spelling variant of Manuel, sometimes considered erratic.

manual

English

(wikipedia manual)

Alternative forms

* manuall (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) manuel, from

Noun

(en noun)
  • A handbook.
  • A booklet that instructs on the usage of a particular machine.
  • (music) A keyboard for the hands on a harpsichord, organ, or other musical instrument.
  • A manual transmission; a gearbox, especially of a motorized vehicle, shifted by the operator.
  • (by synecdoche) A vehicle with a manual transmission.
  • A bicycle technique whereby the front wheel is held aloft by the rider, without the use of pedal foce.
  • Synonyms
    * handbook
    Derived terms
    * reference manual * instruction manual * user manual * user's manual * owners manual * owner's manual

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) manuel, manual, from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Performed with the hands (of an activity).
  • * 1897 , Henry James, What Maisie Knew :
  • She gave a wild manual brush to her locks.
  • Operated by means of the hands (of a machine, device etc.).
  • Synonyms
    *
    Antonyms
    * automatic
    Derived terms
    * manually
    Coordinate terms
    * , relating to the mouth * , relating to the foot

    Anagrams

    * ----

    textbook

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.
  • * 1917 , George Ransom Twiss, A textbook in the principles of science teaching?
  • It is likely to kill interest, and give both teacher and pupils a didactic, textbook attitude at the very beginning.
  • * 2000 , Okasha El Daly, Janet Starkey, Desert travellers: from Herodotus to T.E. Lawrence?
  • They are mentioned in his flat, textbook voice, alongside schoolroom descriptions of topography and assessments of economic significance.
  • * 2004 , David Henn, Old Spain and new Spain: the travel narratives of Camilo José Cela?
  • ...a kind of descriptive account or a social, geographical, anthropological, or historical commentary that may at times have a certain textbook tone to it.
  • Having the typical characteristics of some class of phenomenon, so that it might be included as an example in a textbook.
  • * 1997 , Alexander De Waal, Famine crimes: politics and the disaster relief industry in Africa?
  • It was a textbook case of how prompt government action could avert a major crisis.
  • * 2003 , Felice Picano, A house on the ocean, a house on the bay?
  • Every night had been clear and star-studded, the progression of the moon through its phases absolutely textbook , its dance with the planets visible in the ecliptic...
  • * 2003 , Robert J Art, Patrick M Cronin, The United States and coercive diplomacy?
  • In many ways the Korean nuclear crisis is a textbook example of coercive diplomacy — its strengths as well as the risks inherent in such a strategy.