literature
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈlɪt.ɚ.ə.t͡ʃɚ/
ipa: [ˈlɪɾ.ɚ.ə.t͡ʃɚ]
ipa: /ˈlɪ.tɹə.t͡ʃɚ/
ipa: [ˈlɪ.t͡ʃɹə.t͡ʃɚ]
ipa: /ˈlɪtɚ.t͡ʃɚ/
ipa: /ˈlɪt.ə.t͡ʃɚ/
note: Indic
ipa: /liʈ(a)ˈɾeːt͡ʃa(ɾ)/
Forms: form: literatures
form: lit.
form: literatuer
Etymology: From Middle English literature, from Old French littérature, from Latin literatura or litteratura, from littera (“letter”), from Etruscan, from Ancient Greek διφθέρᾱ (diphthérā, “tablet”). Displaced native Old English bōccræft.
Senses: glosses: The body of all written works.
examples: text: He’s studying English literature at university.
text: There’s a vast body of scientific literature on the subject.
text: classical literature
text: scientific literature
text: world literature
glosses: The collected creative writing of a nation, people, group, or culture.
examples: text: The obvious question to ask at this point is: ‘Why posit the existence of a set of Thematic Relations (THEME, AGENT, INSTRUMENT, etc.) distinct from constituent structure relations?ʼ The answer given in the relevant literature is that a variety of linguistic phenomena can be accounted for in a more principled way in terms of Thematic Functions than in terms of constituent structure relations.
ref: 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 373:
text: In fact, information on when each of the terms first appeared in English, and if obsolete, how long they persisted, is entirely absent from the literature.
ref: 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 3:
qualifier: usually preceded by the
glosses: All the papers, treatises, etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject.
examples: 2008, Adam Cadre
However, even “literary” science fiction rarely qualifies as literature, because it treats characters as sets of traits rather than as fully realized human beings with unique life stories.
synonyms: literary fiction
glosses: Written fiction of a high standard.
examples: text: They all assumed to be mighty rakish and knowing, they were not very tidy in their private dresses, they were not at all orderly in their domestic arrangements, and the combined literature of the whole company would have produced but a poor letter on any subject.
ref: 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times: A Novel:
glosses: Literacy; ability to read and write.
Synonyms: word: literature
Meronyms: word: work
word: fiction
word: nonfiction
word: prose
word: poetry
word: novel
word: novella
word: poem
word: short story
word: fairy tale
word: fable
word: script
word: screenplay
word: treatise
word: article
word: paper
word: monograph
word: essay
word: write-up
word: reference work
word: encyclopedia
word: dictionary
word: directory
word: thesaurus
word: almanac
word: anthology
word: omnibus
word: reader
word: atlas
word: manual
word: guidebook
word: concordance
word: lexicon
word: gazetteer
word: compendium
word: annals
word: chronicle
word: periodical
word: newspaper
word: magazine
word: journal
word: gazette
word: tabloid
word: broadsheet
word: column
word: editorial
word: feuilleton
word: opinion piece
word: diary
word: letters
word: transcript
word: grimoire
word: bestiary
word: Necronomicon
word: biography
word: autobiography
word: obituary
word: manifesto
word: polite literature
word: By size and format
word: book
word: paperback
word: softback
word: hardback
word: hardcover
word: brochure
word: booklet
word: leaflet
word: pamphlet
word: advertisement
word: flyer
word: circular
word: handbill
word: tome
word: By book size
word: folio
word: quarto
word: sexto
word: octavo
word: duodecimo
word: sextodecimo
word: octodecimo
word: vicesimo-quarto
word: trigesimo-secundo
word: quadragesimo-octavo
word: sexagesimo-quarto
Derived terms: antiliterature
Clementine literature
comparative literature
cyberliterature
DDLC
e-literature
escape literature
found literature
global literature
gray literature
grey literature
hyperliterature
illiterature
literatize
literatured
literature review
literature search
literaturology
literotica
loiterature
medieval literature
metaliterature
microliterature
nonliterature
obliterature
orature
paraliterature
polite literature
preliterature
secondary literature
speculum-literature
speculum literature
Speculum literature
subliterature
Twitterature
world literature
Related terms: word: letter
word: literal
word: literacy
word: literate
word: literary
word: title
word: subtitle
word: abstract
word: part
word: chapter
word: section
word: subsection
word: preface
word: prologue
word: epilogue
word: footnote
word: sidenote
word: heading
word: body text
word: paragraph
word: verse
word: bibliography
word: canto