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

Princeton's WordNet(4.66 / 20 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(3.69 / 19 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(3.67 / 6 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(2.50 / 6 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(3.33 / 6 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. James Arthur Baldwin:

   You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way ... people look at reality, then you can change it.

2. Mao Zedong:

   There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause.

3. Raymond Chandler:

   The reading public is intellectually adolescent at best, and it is obvious that what is called significant literature will only be sold to this public by exactly the same methods as are used to sell it toothpaste, cathartics and automobiles.

4. Christian Gregory:

   As someone who really knows well the literature and research about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), our primary policy intervention against food insecurity, giving people access to food or resources to food is really important early identification of risk factors for both food insecurity and mental health problems are critical, and pediatricians can be instrumental in connecting families to available resources in their communities.

5. 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.

Images & Illustrations of literature

Popularity rank by frequency of use