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 discussion

   a literary style

2. versed in or knowledgeable about literature

   a literary man

3. (of a word) formal; not colloquial

Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

• literarily adverb
• literariness noun
• nonliterarily adverb
• nonliterarilyness noun
• nonliterariness noun
• nonliterary adjective
• overliterarily adverb
• overliterariness noun
• overliterary adjective
• preliterary adjective
• pseudoliterary adjective
• quasi-literary adjective
• unliterary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of literary¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of literary¹

C17: from Latin litterārius concerning reading and writing. See _letter

Example Sentences

They sought to accelerate the acculturation and assimilation of the many immigrants into one people, which, as the Massachusetts political and literary figure Fisher Ames pointed out, meant, “to use the modern jargon, nationalized.”

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This exhaustively researched and finely detailed book covers its subject’s marathon travels around the world, his outlandish business ventures and his dogged pursuit of literary celebrity.

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When the Irish poet died suddenly in 2013, at age 74, a benign literary presence was robbed from us.

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Matthiessen considered his nonfiction career a sidelight to his real literary endeavors.

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Long before Jane Austen became a global phenomenon, Elizabeth Jenkins wrote the first literary biography of the novelist.

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Related Words

• classical 
• scholarly