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literary
[ lit-uh-rer-ee ]
adjective
- pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, especially those classed as literature:
literary history.
- pertaining to authorship:
literary style.
- versed in or acquainted with literature; well-read.
- engaged in or having the profession of literature or writing:
a literary man.
- characterized by an excessive or affected display of learning; stilted; pedantic.
- preferring books to actual experience; bookish.
literary
/ ˈlɪtərərɪ; ˈlɪtrərɪ /
adjective
- of, relating to, concerned with, or characteristic of literature or scholarly writing
a literary discussion
a literary style
- versed in or knowledgeable about literature
a literary man
- (of a word) formal; not colloquial
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Usage Note
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Derived Forms
- ˈliterariness, noun
- ˈliterarily, adverb
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Other Words From
- liter·ari·ly adverb
- liter·ari·ness noun
- non·liter·ari·ly adverb
- non·liter·ari·ly·ness noun
- non·liter·ari·ness noun
- non·liter·ary adjective
- over·liter·ari·ly adverb
- over·liter·ari·ness noun
- over·liter·ary adjective
- pre·liter·ary adjective
- pseudo·liter·ary adjective
- quasi-liter·ary adjective
- un·liter·ary adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of literary1
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Example Sentences
From this attitude he draws a singular comic and literary power.
Lacey Noonan's A Gronking to Remember makes 50 Shades of Grey look like Madame Bovary in terms of its literary sophistication.
The goal is to create a literary anatomy of the last century—or, to be precise, from 1900 to 2014.
To reclaim it, he had to move beyond established conventions about how a literary career should be conducted.
A new book from Mallory Ortberg imagines what literary legends including King Lear and Jane Eyre would have texted.
Louis Petit de Bachaumon died; a native of Paris, known as the author of several literary works.
It was strenuously opposed by all possible means, governmental, legislative, and literary.
Samuel Badcock, an English divine and writer, died; admired as a pulpit orator and a man of literary talent.
She was a woman of great intellectual endowment, with highly cultivated literary tastes.
Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, died; an English statesman and literary character.
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