Synonyms

belles-lettres

American

[bel-le-tr^uh] / bɛlˈlɛ trə /

plural noun

literature regarded as a fine art, especially as having a purely aesthetic function.
light and elegant literature, especially that which is excessively refined, characterized by aestheticism, and minor in subject, substance, or scope.

belles-lettres British

/ bɛllɛtrə /

noun

(functioning as singular) literary works, esp essays and poetry, valued for their aesthetic rather than their informative or moral content

"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

Related Words

See literature.

Other Word Forms

belletrist noun
belletristic adjective

Etymology

Origin of belles-lettres

1700–10; from French: literally, “fine letters.” See belle, letter ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Both anatomy and belles-lettres are of equally noble descent,” Chekhov once wrote to his publisher, adding that they share “identical goals and an identical enemy—the Devil.”

From The New Yorker

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what separates a mere commentator from a producer of belles-lettres, but you know it when you read it.

From Salon

More recently in Carmel there have been a great number of literary men about, but there is not the old flavor, the old dignity of the true belles-lettres.

From Literature

“It gives voice to every possible articulation of crime and mystery in belles-lettres,” she said.

From New York Times

Dandies, it seems, are dandy; but belles-lettres is better.

From The New Yorker

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023