literary

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lit·er·ar·y

(lĭt′ə-rĕr′ē)

adj.

1. Of, relating to, or dealing with literature: literary criticism.

2. Of or relating to writers or the profession of literature: literary circles.

3. Versed in or fond of literature or learning.

a. Appropriate to literature rather than everyday speech or writing.

b. Bookish; pedantic.

[Latin litterārius, of reading and writing, from littera, lītera, letter; see letter.]

lit′er·ar′i·ly (-râr′ə-lē) adv.

lit′er·ar′i·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

literary

(ˈlɪtərərɪ; ˈlɪtrərɪ)

adj

1. of, relating to, concerned with, or characteristic of literature or scholarly writing: a literary discussion; a literary style.

2. versed in or knowledgeable about literature: a literary man.

3. (of a word) formal; not colloquial

[C17: from Latin litterārius concerning reading and writing. See letter]

ˈliterarily adv

ˈliterariness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lit•er•ar•y

(ˈlɪt əˌrɛr i)

adj.

1. pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, esp. those classed as literature: literary history.

2. pertaining to authorship: literary style.

3. versed in or acquainted with literature; well-read.

4. engaged in or having the profession of literature or writing: a literary man.

5. preferring books to actual experience; bookish.

[1640–50; < Latin līterārius,litterārius of reading and writing. See letter, -ary]

lit′er•ar`i•ly, adv.

lit′er•ar`i•ness, n.

literary

cenacle - A discussion group or literary clique—also, a small dining room where a literary or philosophic group eats and talks (from Latin cena, "dinner"), such as the room in which the Last Supper was held.
literary - A painting or sculpture that depicts a story can be described as "literary."
opuscule - A diminutive of opus, meaning a minor or small work, literary or musical.
copyright - Literally, "the right to reproduce" one's own work or authorize others to do so; copyright protects original artistic, literary, dramatic, musical, and intellectual work in a tangible medium.

literal

– literary – literate

1. 'literal'

The literal meaning of a word is its most basic meaning.

She was older than I was, and not only in the literal sense.

The literal meaning of the Greek word hamartia, translated as sin, is 'missing the mark'.

2. 'literary'

Literary words and expressions are used to create a special effect in poems or novels, and are not usually used in ordinary speech or writing.

'Awaken' and 'waken' are old-fashioned or literary words.

Literary also means 'connected with literature'.

...literary critics.

...literary magazines.

3. 'literate'

A literate person is able to read and write.

Only half the children are literate.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	literary - of or relating to or characteristic of literature; "literary criticism"
	2.	literary - knowledgeable about literature; "a literary style" literate - versed in literature; dealing with literature
	3.	literary - appropriate to literature rather than everyday speech or writing; "when trying to impress someone she spoke in an affected literary style" formal - (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms; "the paper was written in formal English"

literary

adjective well-read, lettered, learned, formal, intellectual, scholarly, literate, erudite, bookish a literary masterpiece

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

literary

adjective

Characterized by a narrow concern for book learning and formal rules, without knowledge or experience of practical matters:

academic, bookish, donnish, formalistic, inkhorn, pedantic, pedantical, scholastic.

Translations

أدَبيواسِع المَعْرِفَه بالكُتُب

literárnísečtělý

litterær

literarisch

literario de literatura

littéraire cultivé

irodalmi

bóka-, bókmennta-sem er vel aî sér í bókmenntum

letterario

apsiskaitęsliteratūrinis

literāri izglītotsliterārs

literair

litterær

literárny

književen

aydınçok okumuşedebîyazınsal

文学的精通文学的

literary

[ˈlɪtərərɪ]

A. ADJ [prize, award] → de literatura, literario
literary circles → círculos mpl literarios
a literary man → un hombre de letras
it's a literary masterpiece → es una obra maestra de la literatura
the literary scene → el ambiente literario, los círculos literarios
a literary work → una obra literaria or de literatura

B. CPD literary agent N → agente mf literario/a
literary critic N → crítico/a m/f literario/a
literary criticism N → crítica f literaria
literary history N → historia f de la literatura
literary studies NPL → estudios mpl de literatura, estudios mpl literarios
literary theory N → teoría f de la literatura, teoría f literaria

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

literary

[ˈlɪt^ərəri] adj → littéraireliterary criticism n → critique f littéraire

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

literary

adj → literarisch; he has literary tastes → er interessiert sich für Literatur; a literary man → ein Literaturkenner m; (= author) → ein Literat or Autor m; the literary scene → die Literaturszene

literary

literary agent

n → Literaturagent(in) m(f)

literary critic

n → Literaturkritiker(in) m(f)

literary criticism

n (as subject) → Literaturwissenschaft f; (= reviews) → Literaturkritik f

literary historian

n → Literaturhistoriker(in) m(f)

literary theory

n → Literaturtheorie f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

literary

[ˈlɪt/ərərɪ] adj → letterario/a
a literary man → un letterato

literary

(ˈlitərəri) adjective

1. concerning literature or the writing of books. a literary magazine.

2. (of a person) knowledgeable about books.

References in classic literature ?

Born in poverty at Boston, January 19 1809, dying under painful circumstances at Baltimore, October 7, 1849, his whole literary career of scarcely fifteen years a pitiful struggle for mere subsistence, his memory malignantly misrepresented by his earliest biographer, Griswold, how completely has truth at last routed falsehood and how magnificently has Poe come into his own, For "The Raven," first published in 1845, and, within a few months, read, recited and parodied wherever the English language was spoken, the half-starved poet received $10!

"Here is one of the finest scholars, one of the most original men of genius, and one of the most industrious of the literary profession of our country, whose temporary suspension of labor, from bodily illness, drops him immediately to a level with the common objects of public charity.

View in context

The papers collected here under the name of 'My Literary Passions' were printed serially in a periodical of such vast circulation that they might well have been supposed to have found there all the acceptance that could be reasonably hoped for them.

Their short and simple annals could be eked out by confidences which would not appreciably enrich the materials of the literary history of their time, and it seems better to leave them to the imagination of such posterity as they may reach.

View in context

OF the trinity of American authors whose births made the year 1819 a notable one in our literary history,--Lowell, Whitman, and Melville,--it is interesting to observe that the two latter were both descended, on the fathers' and mothers' sides respectively, from have families of British New England and Dutch New York extraction.

Whether our author entered on his whaling adventures in the South Seas with a determination to make them available for literary purposes, may never be certainly known.

View in context

It was upon the whole a very distinguished party, for independently of the lesser theatrical lights who clustered on this occasion round Mr Snittle Timberry, there was a literary gentleman present who had dramatised in his time two hundred and forty-seven novels as fast as they had come out--some of them faster than they had come out--and who WAS a literary gentleman in consequence.

'When I dramatise a book, sir,' said the literary gentleman, 'THAT'S fame.

View in context

Saintsbury's well-considered Specimens of English Prose Style, from Malory to Macaulay (Kegan Paul), a volume, as we think, which bears fresh witness to the truth of the old remark that it takes a scholar indeed to make a [4] good literary selection, has its motive sufficiently indicated in the very original "introductory essay," which might well stand, along with the best of these extracts from a hundred or more deceased masters of English, as itself a document or standard, in the matter of prose style.

View in context

There were Emperors beloved of literary men, Emperors beloved of the people, builders of long waterways and glittering palaces, and one great conqueror, the Emperor Wu Ti, of almost legendary fame.

View in context

It was in part a period of experimentation, when the proper material and limits of literary forms were being determined, oftentimes by means of false starts and grandiose failures.

View in context

The Hymn is doubtless a very ancient form; but if no example of extreme antiquity survive this must be put down to the fact that until the age of literary consciousness, such things are not preserved.