literature

1. 1.

   creative writing of recognized artistic value

   Broaderwriting

   NarrowerSanskrit literature
2. 2.

   the humanistic study of a body of literature

   “he took a course in Russian lit”

   Synonymslit

   Broaderliterary study

   literature

3. 3.

   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”

   Broaderwriting

   Narrowerhistoriography

   literature

4. 4.

   the profession or art of a writer

   “her place in literature is secure”

   Broaderprofession

   literature

Other forms of literature

plural

literatures·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about literature

What does literature mean?

literature means "creative writing of recognized artistic value". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in literature?

literature has 4 syllables: lit-e-ra-ture. The stress falls on "lit". In IPA it is /ˈlɪtɚətʃɚ/.

What is another word for literature?

Close synonyms include lit. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is literature a common word?

literature is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.