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

• literariness noun
• literarily adverb
• 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

Ms. Cheever began to understand that his stories came at least partly from the tension between his private feelings of shame and the effort to maintain his respectability as a literary grandee and paterfamilias.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

New York City has challenged legions of writers who have attempted to wrestle its teeming humanity, its ever-evolving economy and the sheer too-muchness of its more than 350-year history into literary form.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Justice Department escalated the fight months later, launching a criminal probe into Bolton’s handling of the information and issuing grand jury subpoenas to him and his literary agent.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But on his records, even his self-produced early ones, there’s a literary poise and dreamy loucheness that calls back to the imperious, wounded singers of his old neighborhood — the Strokes and Jeff Buckley in particular.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Dame Carol Black, chair of the British Library, described Wilde as "one of the most significant literary figures of the nineteenth century".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• classical 
• scholarly