belles-lettristic

English edit

Adjective edit

belles-lettristic (comparative more belles-lettristic, superlative most belles-lettristic)

  1. Pertaining to belles-lettres; having, or describing, a primarily aesthetic literary bent.
    • 1901, Nathan Stern, The Jewish historico-critical school of the nineteenth century[1], page 29:
      Reggio's works will always command respect on account of their belles-lettristic value.
    • 1951, Richard Foster Jones, The Seventeenth Century:
      We had been only vaguely aware, I think, how much less belles-lettristic than his French contemporary was the seventeenth-century Englishman...
    • 1998, George B Hewitt, The Abkhazians: A Handbook:
      Truly Abkhazian belles-lettristic literature began in 1912 when Gulia published his first volume of collected works...
    • 2006, Ellie Chambers, Marshall W Gregory, Teaching and Learning English Literature:
      Belles-lettristic writing about literature developed the model of a thoughtful person sitting down with a literary work of life-long acquaintance...