belles-lettres

[ French bel-le-truh ]

See synonyms for: belles-lettres belletristic belletrist on Thesaurus.com

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.

Origin of belles-lettres

1700–10; from French: literally, “fine letters.” See belle, letter¹

synonym study For belles-lettres

1. See literature.

Other words from belles-lettres

bel·let·rist [bel-le-trist], /bɛlˈlɛ trɪst/, noun
bel·let·ris·tic [bel-li-tris-tik], /ˌbɛl lɪˈtrɪs tɪk/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use belles-lettres in a sentence

Yet you are also bringing them back to something belletristic that harkens back to an editorial golden age.
Meghan Daum On Tackling The Unspeakable Parts Of Life | David Yaffe | December 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In belletristic literature, also, we find occasional references to the love-sentiment in childhood.
The Sexual Life of the Child | Albert Moll
The belletristic and the puritanical conceptions of life presented themselves in their profoundest antithesis.
August Strindberg, the Spirit of Revolt | L. (Lizzy) Lind-af-Hageby

British Dictionary definitions for belles-lettres

belles-lettres

/ (French bɛllɛtrə) /

noun

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

Origin of belles-lettres

C17: from French: fine letters

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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