literature

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the profession or art of a writer

   My place in literature is secure thanks to the overwhelming success of my last ten books.

2. 2
   noun

   published writings in a particular style on a particular subject

   the technical literature

3. 3
   noun

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

   He’s studying English literature at university.

4. 4
   noun

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

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   Written fiction of a high standard.

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   Literacy; ability to read and write.

   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.

7. 7
   noun

   the humanistic study of a body of literature

8. 8
   noun

   creative writing of recognized artistic value

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.