literature

[Lit·er*a*ture]

The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work.

...

Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.

Noun
the profession or art of a writer; "her place in literature is secure"

Noun
the humanistic study of a body of literature; "he took a course in Russian lit"

Noun
creative writing of recognized artistic value

Noun
published writings in a particular style on a particular subject; "the technical literature"; "one aspect of Waterloo has not yet been treated in the literature"

n.
Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.

n.
The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry.

n.
The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres.

n.
The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work.

Literature

Lit"er*a*ture , n. [F. litt'82rature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr.littera, litera, letter. See Letter.] 1. Learning; acquaintance with letters or books. 2. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry. 3. The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres. 4. The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work. Lamp. Syn. -- Science; learning; erudition; belles-lettres. See Science. -- Literature, Learning, Erudition. Literature, in its widest sense, embraces all compositions in writing or print which preserve the results of observation, thought, or fancy; but those upon the positive sciences (mathematics, etc.) are usually excluded. It is often confined, however, to belles-lettres, or works of taste and sentiment, as poetry, eloquence, history, etc., excluding abstract discussions and mere erudition. A man of literature (in this narrowest sense) is one who is versed in belles-lettres; a man of learning excels in what is taught in the schools, and has a wide extent of knowledge, especially, in respect to the past; a man of erudition is one who is skilled in the more recondite branches of learned inquiry.

The origin of all positive science and philosophy, as well as of all literature and art, in the forms in which they exist in civilized Europe, must be traced to the Greeks.

Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense.

Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical terms.

Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.

...

Usage Examples

A great age of literature is perhaps always a great age of translations.

An age which is incapable of poetry is incapable of any kind of literature except the cleverness of a decadence.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.

But picketing - picketing for or against something, and handing out literature - these are conspicuously formal actions. They have to be understood as indirect communication.

All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool.

Environmental concern is now firmly embedded in public life: in education, medicine and law in journalism, literature and art.

Misspelled Form

literature, kliterature, oliterature, pliterature, :literature, kiterature, oiterature, piterature, :iterature, lkiterature, loiterature, lpiterature, l:iterature, luiterature, l8iterature, l9iterature, loiterature, ljiterature, lkiterature, luterature, l8terature, l9terature, loterature, ljterature, lkterature, liuterature, li8terature, li9terature, lioterature, lijterature, likterature, lirterature, li5terature, li6terature, liyterature, ligterature, lirerature, li5erature, li6erature, liyerature, ligerature, litrerature, lit5erature, lit6erature, lityerature, litgerature, litwerature, lit3erature, lit4erature, litrerature, litserature, litderature, litwrature, lit3rature, lit4rature, litrrature, litsrature, litdrature, litewrature, lite3rature, lite4rature, literrature, litesrature, litedrature, liteerature, lite4rature, lite5rature, litetrature, litefrature, liteeature, lite4ature, lite5ature, litetature, litefature, litereature, liter4ature, liter5ature, litertature, literfature, literqature, literwature, litersature, literzature, literqture, literwture, litersture, literzture, literaqture, literawture, literasture, literazture, literarture, litera5ture, litera6ture, literayture, literagture, literarure, litera5ure, litera6ure, literayure, literagure, literatrure, literat5ure, literat6ure, literatyure, literatgure, literatyure, literat7ure, literat8ure, literatiure, literatjure, literatyre, literat7re, literat8re, literatire, literatjre, literatuyre, literatu7re, literatu8re, literatuire, literatujre, literatuere, literatu4re, literatu5re, literatutre, literatufre, literatuee, literatu4e, literatu5e, literatute, literatufe, literaturee, literatur4e, literatur5e, literaturte, literaturfe, literaturwe, literatur3e, literatur4e, literaturre, literaturse, literaturde, literaturw, literatur3, literatur4, literaturr, literaturs, literaturd, literaturew, literature3, literature4, literaturer, literatures, literatured.

Other Usage Examples

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.

A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.

Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.

Allen Ginsberg was a world authority on the writing of William Blake, and had an incredible knowledge of classic literature and world politics.

A people's literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them. The writings of the day show the quality of the people as no historical reconstruction can.

Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.

Among the letters my readers write me, there is a certain category which is continuously growing, and which I see as a symptom of the increasing intellectualization of the relationship between readers and literature.

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.