Related Searches
on Ask.com
Browse Nearby Entries
literature
6 dictionary results for: literature
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
lit·er·a·ture 
[lit-er-uh-cher, -choor, li-truh-] Pronunciation Key
[lit-er-uh-cher, -choor, li-truh-] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. |
| 2. | the entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people, etc.: the literature of England. |
| 3. | the writings dealing with a particular subject: the literature of ornithology. |
| 4. | the profession of a writer or author. |
| 5. | literary work or production. |
| 6. | any kind of printed material, as circulars, leaflets, or handbills: literature describing company products. |
| 7. | Archaic. polite learning; literary culture; appreciation of letters and books. |
—Synonyms 1. Literature, belles-lettres, letters refer to artistic writings worthy of being remembered. In the broadest sense, literature includes any type of writings on any subject: the literature of medicine; usually, however, it means the body of artistic writings of a country or period that are characterized by beauty of expression and form and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal: English literature of the 16th century. Belles-lettres is a more specific term for writings of a light, elegant, or excessively refined character: His talent is not for scholarship but for belles-lettres. Letters (rare today outside of certain fixed phrases) refers to literature as a domain of study or creation: a man of letters.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| lit·er·a·ture
(lĭt'ər-ə-chŏŏr', -chər) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English, book learning, from Old French litterature, from Latin litterātūra, from litterātus, lettered; see literate.] |
(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
literature
literature
c.1375, from L. lit(t)eratura "learning, writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from lit(t)era "letter." Originally "book learning" (it replaced O.E. boccræft), the meaning "literary production or work" is first attested 1779 in Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets" (he didn't include this definition in his dictionary, however); that of "body of writings from a period or people" is first recorded 1812.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| literature | |
noun | |
| 1. | creative writing of recognized artistic value |
| 2. | the humanistic study of a body of literature; "he took a course in Russian lit" |
| 3. | published writings in a particular style on a particular subject; "the technical literature"; "one aspect of Waterloo has not yet been treated in the literature" |
| 4. | the profession or art of a writer; "her place in literature is secure" |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This
literature
The literature. Computer-science journals and other publications, vaguely gestured at to answer a question that the speaker believes is trivial. Thus, one might answer an annoying question by saying "It's in the literature." Oppose Knuth, which has no connotation of triviality.
(1994-11-04)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Literature
Lit"er*a*ture\, n. [F. litt['e]rature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr. littera, litera, letter. See Letter.]1. Learning; acquaintance with letters or books. 2. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry. 3. The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres. 4. The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work. --Lamp. Syn: Science; learning; erudition; belles-lettres. Usage: See Science. -- Literature, Learning, Erudition. Literature, in its widest sense, embraces all compositions in writing or print which preserve the results of observation, thought, or fancy; but those upon the positive sciences (mathematics, etc.) are usually excluded. It is often confined, however, to belles-lettres, or works of taste and sentiment, as poetry, eloquence, history, etc., excluding abstract discussions and mere erudition. A man of literature (in this narrowest sense) is one who is versed in belles-lettres; a man of learning excels in what is taught in the schools, and has a wide extent of knowledge, especially, in respect to the past; a man of erudition is one who is skilled in the more recondite branches of learned inquiry. The origin of all positive science and philosophy, as well as of all literature and art, in the forms in which they exist in civilized Europe, must be traced to the Greeks. --Sir G. Lewis. Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense. --Prior. Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical terms. --Swift.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Share This:
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.