Meanings
plural exercises for the reader
- broadlyA matter left to the addressee's judgement to decide.
Moreover, determining what is “passionate,” “artistic,” and “suitable for young children” is left as an exercise for the reader.
2006, Hossein Bidgoli, Handbook of Information Security, Information Warfare, Social, Legal, and International Issues and Security Foundations, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 4131 more example
She does not ask to see the dossier on this man before she goes, even though the co-worker has said that he has seen it, etc. The credibility of this conduct is another matter and is left as an exercise for the reader.
2003, Wells Earl Draughon, Advanced Writing: Fiction and Film, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 167
Origin
From academic writing. One of the first known recorded occurrences of this phrase is in An Elementary Course of Mathematics by Thomas Stephens Davies, Stephen Fenwick, and William Rutherford from 1853.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
exercise for the reader. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exercise%20for%20the%20reader
“exercise for the reader.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exercise%20for%20the%20reader. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exercise for the reader,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exercise%20for%20the%20reader.
Source: exercise for the reader on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.