Meanings
nounbook burning (countable and uncountable, plural book burnings)
plural book burnings
- countableliterallyuncountableA mass burning of books, intended as a form of political and/or religious censorship.
Synonyms: bibliocide
- broadlycountableidiomaticuncountableAny mass destruction, removal, or recalling of books, motion pictures, broadcasts, or electronic works as a form of censorship, especially motivated by religious or political objections to the material.
Exhuming McCarthy (meet me at the book burning, meet me at the book burning)
1987, “Exhuming McCarthy”, in Document (R.E.M. No. 5), performed by R.E.M.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA mass burning of books, intended as a form of political and/or religious censorship.
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Also see
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 焚書 /焚书
- 焚書 /焚书 (fénshū)book burning
Danish bogbrænding
- bogbrændingbook burning
Dutch boekverbranding
- boekverbrandingbook burning
Finnish kirjarovio
- kirjaroviobook burning
French autodafé
- autodafébook burning
German Bücherverbrennung
- Bücherverbrennungbook burning
Hungarian könyvégetés
- könyvégetésbook burning
Icelandic bókabrenna
- bókabrennabook burning
Japanese 焚書
- 焚書 (funsho)book burning
Korean 분서
- 분서 (Bunseo)book burning
Norwegian Bokmål bokbål
- bokbålbook burning
Polish palenie książek
- palenie książekbook burning
Swedish bokbål
- bokbålbook burning
Cite this entry
APA
book burning. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/book%20burning
MLA
“book burning.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/book%20burning. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “book burning,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/book%20burning.
Source: book burning on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.