literati
Americanplural noun
singular
literatus-
people engaged in literary pursuits, especially professional writers.
The lounge at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City was a well-known haunt of the literati during the 1920s.
-
learned people and scholars considered as a class.
university literati in their ivory tower.
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of literati
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin līterāti, litterāti “learned, liberally educated people,” noun use of plural of līterātus, litterātus; literate
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.
The book—a masterpiece of the genre—chronicles the circuitous path he took from Brownsville, then a scrappy Jewish neighborhood, to the tony milieu of New York’s literati.
On recent travels, she taught in Paris at a New York University summer school program, mingled with New York City’s glittery literati and gave readings around the world.
From New York Times
The floating ships in the fantasy role-playing game Honkai: Star Rail are populated with traders, gourmets and literati who surf their texts on jade abacuses.
From New York Times
What was supporting the grand mansions and the literati in England in the middle of the 19th century?
From Los Angeles Times
In the world of literature, for example, authors who are “othered” outside of the elite literati typically are boxed into othering themselves just to parlay their creativity into a career.
From Seattle Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
