literary

English

Etymology

From French littéraire.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹəɹi/, /ˈlɪt(ə)ɹi/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹɛ(ə)ɹi/, [ˈɫɪɾəɹɛ(ə)ɹi]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

literary (comparative more literary, superlative most literary)

1. Relating to literature.

   literary fame

   a literary history

   literary conversation

   • c. 1768, Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Plays of William Shakespeare:

     He has long outlived his century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary merit.

2. Relating to writers, or the profession of literature.

   a literary man

   • 1775, William Mason, The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason. York:

     in the literary as well as fashionable world

3. Knowledgeable of literature or writing.
4. Appropriate to literature rather than everyday writing.
5. Bookish.

Synonyms

• bookly

Derived terms

• antiliterary
• cyberliterary
• extraliterary
• hyperliterary
• lego-literary
• literarily
• literariness
• literarist
• literary agent
• literary criticism
• literary device
• literary executor
• literary fiction
• literary form
• literary genre
• literary inquisition
• literaryism
• literary journalism
• literary language
• literary present
• literary science
• literary technique
• literary theory
• litRPG
• metaliterary
• nonliterary
• overliterary
• postliterary
• preliterary
• pseudoliterary
• subliterary
• technoliterary
• uniliterary
• unliterary

Related terms

• letter
• literacy
• literal
• literate
• literature

Translations

relating to literature

Afrikaans: literêre, letterkundige Albanian: letrar (sq) Arabic: أَدَبِيّ (ʔadabiyy) Armenian: գրական (hy) (grakan) Asturian: lliterariu Azerbaijani: ədəbi Belarusian: літарату́рны (litaratúrny), кні́жны (knížny) Bulgarian: литерату́рен (literatúren) Catalan: literari (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 文學 / 文学 (zh) (wénxué), 文 (zh) (wén) Czech: literární (cs) Danish: litterær Dutch: literair (nl) Esperanto: literatura (eo) Estonian: kirjanduslik Finnish: kirjallinen (fi), kaunokirjallinen (fi) French: littéraire (fr) Galician: literario (gl) Georgian: ლიტერატურული (liṭeraṭuruli) German: literarisch (de), schriftstellerisch (de) Greek: λογοτεχνικός (el) (logotechnikós) Hindi: साहित्यिक (hi) (sāhityik) Hungarian: irodalmi (hu) Italian: letterario (it) Japanese: 文学の (ja) (ぶんがくの, bungaku no) Kazakh: әдеби (ädebi) Korean: 문학의 (ko) (munhag-ui) Kyrgyz: адабий (ky) (adabiy) Latin: litterārius Latvian: literārs Lithuanian: literatūros, literatūrinis Luxembourgish: literaresch Macedonian: литерату́рен (literatúren) Malay: sastera (ms) Malayalam: സാഹിത്യ (sāhitya) Norman: littéthaithe (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: litterær (no) Nynorsk: litterær Occitan: literari (oc) Persian: Iranian Persian: اَدَبی (fa) (adabi) Polish: literacki (pl) Portuguese: literário (pt) Romanian: literar (ro) Russian: литерату́рный (ru) (literatúrnyj), кни́жный (ru) (knížnyj) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ли̏тера̄ран, књи̏же̄внӣ Roman: lȉterāran (sh), knjȉžēvnī (sh) Spanish: literario (es) Swedish: litterär (sv) Tagalog: pampanitikan Tajik: адабӣ (tg) (adabi) Tatar: әдәби (ädäbi) Turkish: edebî (tr) Turkmen: edebi Ukrainian: літерату́рний (uk) (literatúrnyj), книжко́вий (knyžkóvyj) Urdu: اَدَبی (adabī) Uyghur: ئەدەبىي (edebiy) Uzbek: adabiy (uz) Vietnamese: văn học (vi), văn chương (vi) Welsh: llenyddol (cy) Yiddish: ליטעראַריש (literarish) Zazaki: edebi

relating to writers, or the profession of literature

Afrikaans: literêre, letterkundige Armenian: գրական (hy) (grakan) Danish: litterær Finnish: kirjailija- (fi), kirjallisuus- (fi), kirjallinen (fi) German: literarisch (de), schriftstellerisch (tätig) Greek: λογοτεχνικός (el) (logotechnikós) Hindi: साहित्यिक (hi) (sāhityik) Hungarian: írói (hu), irodalmi (hu) Lithuanian: rašytojų (lt) Norwegian: Bokmål: litterær (no) Nynorsk: litterær Polish: literacki (pl) Russian: писа́тельский (ru) (pisátelʹskij), литера́торский (ru) (literátorskij) Swedish: litterär (sv) Ukrainian: письме́ннецький (pysʹménnecʹkyj) (to writers), літера́торський (literátorsʹkyj) (to writers), писе́мницький (pysémnycʹkyj) (to literature) Welsh: llenyddol (cy) Yiddish: ליטעראַריש (literarish)

knowledgeable of literature or writing

Finnish: kirjallisuutta tunteva

appropriate to literature rather than everyday writing

Afrikaans: literêre Armenian: գրական (hy) (grakan) Belarusian: кні́жны (knížny) Bulgarian: литерату́рен (literatúren) Finnish: kirjakielinen (fi), kirjallinen (fi) German: gehoben (de) Greek: λογοτεχνικός (el) (logotechnikós) Hungarian: emelkedett (hu), választékos (hu) Japanese: 文学の (ja) (ぶんがくの, bungaku no) Korean: 문학의 (ko) (munhag-ui) Polish: książkowy (pl) Russian: кни́жный (ru) (knížnyj) Ukrainian: книжко́вий (knyžkóvyj) Uyghur: كىتاۋىي (kitawiy) Vietnamese: văn hoa

bookish — see bookish

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) litterari

Further reading

• “literary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “literary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• trilayer