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View synonyms for literary

literary

[ lit-uh-rer-ee ]

adjective

  1. pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, especially 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. characterized by an excessive or affected display of learning; stilted; pedantic.
  6. preferring books to actual experience; bookish.


literary

/ ˈlɪtrərɪ; ˈlɪtərərɪ /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, concerned with, or characteristic of literature or scholarly writing

    a literary style

    a literary discussion

  2. versed in or knowledgeable about literature

    a literary man

  3. (of a word) formal; not colloquial
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Usage Note

In this dictionary, the label Literary is assigned to an entry term or definition that is used rarely in contemporary speech or writing except to create a literary, poetic, or evocative effect.
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Derived Forms

  • ˈliterariness, noun
  • ˈliterarily, adverb
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Other Words From

  • liter·ari·ly adverb
  • liter·ari·ness noun
  • non·liter·ari·ly adverb
  • non·liter·ari·ly·ness noun
  • non·liter·ari·ness noun
  • non·liter·ary adjective
  • over·liter·ari·ly adverb
  • over·liter·ari·ness noun
  • over·liter·ary adjective
  • pre·liter·ary adjective
  • pseudo·liter·ary adjective
  • quasi-liter·ary adjective
  • un·liter·ary adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of literary1

1640–50; < Latin līterārius, litterārius of reading and writing. See letter 1, -ary
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Word History and Origins

Origin of literary1

C17: from Latin litterārius concerning reading and writing. See letter
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Example Sentences

Two thrillers with literary antecedents — “Cross” on Prime Video and “The Day of the Jackal” on Peacock — premiere Thursday.

After reading the letters, Anolik ditched her plans to revise “Hollywood’s Eve,” pivoting instead to write “Didion & Babitz,” an essential chronicle of a literary friendship.

One chapter looks at a literary example, William Wells Brown’s novel "Clotel," which is something of a fantasia on the Sally Hemings story.

From Salon

A week later, Evans recalls, a division of Penguin Random House “approached my literary agent in London and proposed a memoir. I immediately went, ‘I’m 45, hang on!

For the first time, an Algerian author has won France’s top literary award, the Goncourt, with a searing account of his country’s 1990s civil war.

From BBC

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literal-mindedliterary agent