English edit

Etymology edit

From French littéraire.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

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 edit

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