perusal

[ puh-roo-zuhl ]
See synonyms for perusal on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a reading: a perusal of the current books.

  2. the act of perusing; survey; scrutiny: A more careful perusal yields this conclusion.

Origin of perusal

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; peruse + -al2

Other words from perusal

  • pre·pe·rus·al, adjective
  • re·pe·rus·al, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use perusal in a sentence

  • There are incidentally few novelists who repay one so richly for repeated perusals.

    Essays on Modern Novelists | William Lyon Phelps
  • One or two perusals of the “Holy War” satisfy: and even these are not without weariness.

    The Life of John Bunyan | Edmund Venables
  • From this she took a letter, marked a little with former perusals—and she read it over once more from beginning to end.

  • A dozen careful perusals of The Principles of Biology have failed to corroborate such a statement.

  • And even when it was written many perusals only served to deepen his doubts.

    Pearl of Pearl Island | John Oxenham