📖 A softcover book 📖 With a soft cover

paperback

1.6

Of a book, having a soft paper cover rather than a hard cover

adjective
/ˈpeɪpərˌbæk/

: de bolsillo

In our new paperback version that is coming out this week, we address precisely that kind of issue.

Examples

She prefers reading in paperback format because it is lighter to carry.
I decided to buy the latest novel because it was available in paperback.
So since it's out in paperback, I was like, OK, I'll get it.
I love a big paperback that's floppy with big text, like big font.
But it's also got this beautiful textured paperback that's like a leatherette and a lovely foil embossed stamped thing that says flip book.
Antoine Wilson's Mouth to Mouth just out in paperback and Anselm Richardson, writer, producer on The Boys, is in post production on his sci-fi short Fractal.
The bookstore has a section dedicated to new releases in paperback.

Synonyms

softcover

vspaperback

1 3.2

Having a soft, flexible cover like a paperback book

is the specific term used by publishers for that flexible binding

paperbacked

vspaperback

3.5

Bound with a thin paper cover rather than a hard cover

is the publishing term for that same flexible book format

Antonyms

hardcover

1 3.0

A book with a thick, stiff cover that protects the pages

Compounds

paperback book

3 1.4

A book with a soft paper cover instead of a hard cover

How Durable

hardback

8 3.2

paperback

1.6

unbound

1 6.4

Surface Forms

paperback positive

Morphology

paperback = paper + back (semi-transparent) = paper + back

The components clearly suggest a book with a paper back, but the established meaning is a conventionalized book-format term rather than a fully literal description.

Etymology

Paperback as an adjective comes from the same idea: paper + back meaning the cover is paper rather than a hard cover like a hardback. That's why calling a book paperback means it has a light, bendable paper cover.