Definitions for literature
ˈlɪt ər ə tʃər, -ˌtʃʊər, ˈlɪ trə-lit·er·a·ture

Princeton's WordNet(4.64 / 19 votes)Rate this definition:

1. literature(noun)

   creative writing of recognized artistic value

2. literature, lit(noun)

   the humanistic study of a body of literature

   "he took a course in Russian lit"

3. literature(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"

4. literature(noun)

   the profession or art of a writer

   "her place in literature is secure"

Wiktionary(3.34 / 9 votes)Rate this definition:

1. literature(Noun)

   The body of all written works.

   Etymology: From literatura or litteratura.

2. literature(Noun)

   The collected creative writing of a nation, people, group or culture.

   Etymology: From literatura or litteratura.

3. literature(Noun)

   All the papers, treatises etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject.

   Etymology: From literatura or litteratura.

4. literature(Noun)

   Written fiction of a high standard.

   SF is rarely literature because the characters are so poorly realised. - Adam Cadre

   Etymology: From literatura or litteratura.

Webster Dictionary(3.75 / 8 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Literature(noun)

   learning; acquaintance with letters or books

2. Literature(noun)

   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. Literature(noun)

   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. Literature(noun)

   the occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work

Freebase(3.51 / 16 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Literature

   Literature is the art of written work and can, in some circumstances, refer exclusively to published sources. The word literature literally means "things made from letters" and the pars pro toto term "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." Literature is commonly classified as having two major forms—fiction & non-fiction—and two major techniques—poetry and prose. Literature may consist of texts based on factual information, as well as on original imagination, such as polemical works as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well as belles-lettres. Literature can be classified according to historical periods, genres, and political influences. The concept of genre, which earlier was limited, has broadened over the centuries. A genre consists of artistic works which fall within a certain central theme, and examples of genre include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical periods in English literature include Old English, Middle English, the Renaissance, the 17th Century Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, the 18th Century Restoration, 19th Century Victorian, and 20th Century Modernism. Important intellectual movements that have influenced the study of literature include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-modernism, romanticism, and Marxism.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(4.50 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Literature

   lit′ėr-a-tūr, n. the science of letters or what is written: the whole body of literary compositions in any language, or on a given subject: all literary productions except those relating to positive science and art, usually confined, however, to the belles-lettres.—adj. Lit′eratured (Shak.), learned, having literary knowledge.—Light literature, books which can be read and understood without mental exertion: fiction; Polite literature, belles-lettres. [Fr.,—L. literatura—litera, a letter.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia(3.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Literature

   defined by Carlyle "as an 'apocalypse of nature,' a revealing of the 'open secret,' a 'continuous revelation' of the God-like in the terrestrial and common, which ever endures there, and is brought out now in this dialect, now in that, with various degrees of clearness ... there being touches of it (i. e. the God-like) in the dark stormful indignation of a Byron, nay, in the withered mockery of a French sceptic, his mockery of the false, a love and worship of the true ... how much more in the sphere harmony of a Shakespeare, the cathedral music of a Milton; something of it too in those humble, genuine, lark-notes of a Burns, skylark starting from the humble furrow far overhead into the blue depths, and singing to us so genuinely there."

The Roycroft Dictionary(2.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. literature

   The art of saying a thing by saying something else just as good.

U.S. National Library of Medicine(3.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Literature

   Writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest. The body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age. (Webster, 3d ed)

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'literature' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1951

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'literature' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4389

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'literature' in Nouns Frequency: #886

Anagrams for literature »

1. literatuer

2. literateur

How to pronounce literature?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say literature in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of literature in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of literature in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of literature in a Sentence

1. Jorge Luis Borges:

   Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read.

2. Helen Goodman:

   They should set out how they are positioned, the public should know who's putting money into the different campaigns and why they might be doing that - because that will inform their view of the literature and information they get.

3. Margaret Fuller:

   It does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American literature. Books which imitate or represent the thoughts and life of Europe do not constitute an American literature. Before such can exist, an original idea must animate this nation and fresh currents of life must call into life fresh thoughts along the shore.

4. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:

   Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society, that does not warn in time against threatening moral and social dangers -- such literature does not deserve the name of literature; it is only a fa?ade. Such literature loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as wastepaper instead of being read.

5. Jim Mattis:

   The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in The Woodward book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.

Images & Illustrations of literature

Popularity rank by frequency of use