literati
Americanplural noun
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literatus
singular
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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.
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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; see origin at literate
Explanation
If you're educated and love books, you can describe yourself as being a member of the literati. The literati is a highly intelligent group of bookish people. The literati is a somewhat glamorous group, known for being very smart and well-read. You could include famous authors, editors, poets, critics, and scholars of literature among the collective group known as the literati. The word is the plural form of the Latin literatus, which means "lettered or educated," or literally "one who knows letters." Related words in English include letter and literate.
Vocabulary lists containing literati
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.
See Examples For:
These days, the online literati despises Shriver as a matter of principle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
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 ● Apr. 8, 2024
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 ● Jun. 24, 2023
Unlike, for example, the 1983 list, which now looks like a defining picture of the London literati, the judges believe the 2023 list is more representative of British society as a whole.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2023
I am engaged writing the lives of some of the Italian literati for Dr. Lardner’s Cyclopædia.
From The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume II (of 2) by Florence A. Thomas Marshall
British critics have just discovered "a major dramatist" who turns out to be that old literatus of the libido, David Herbert Lawrence.
From Time Magazine Archive
Latest literatus to attempt this particular impossibility is Author Golding who plants his small potatoes in neat rows on either side Magnolia Street.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is still living in Indianapolis, on a street with the glorious name of Meridian, and never was Princeton more conscious of him as her leading literatus.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had outlived his pre-Civil War hopefulness, but he was still capable only of vague "orbic" statements about the leadership of "the divine literatus," and preached once again "his old back-to-nature illusion."
From Time Magazine Archive
And it may be ask'd, Are these not better, indeed, for America, than any utterances even of greatest rhapsode, artist, or literatus?
From Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Walt Whitman
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