Literature

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: lit=er=a=ture

CIDE DICTIONARY

Literature, n. [F. littérature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr. littera, litera, letter. See Letter.].

•  Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work.  Lamb.

  "The origin of all positive science and philosophy, as well as of all literature and art, in the forms in which they exist in civilized Europe, must be traced to the Greeks."  [1913 Webster]

  "Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense."  [1913 Webster]

  "Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical terms."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Science; learning; erudition; belles-lettres.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Literature, n.
1 written works, esp. those whose value lies in beauty of language or in emotional effect.
2 the realm of letters.
3 the writings of a country or period.
4 literary production.
5 colloq. printed matter, leaflets, etc.
6 the material in print on a particular subject (there is a considerable literature on geraniums).

Etymology

ME, = literary culture, f. L litteratura (as LITERATE)

THESAURUS

Literature

French literature, Renaissance literature, ancient literature, article, autograph, belles lettres, belles-lettres, bibliography, body of knowledge, body of learning, brainchild, brochures, circulars, classics, composition, computer printout, contemporary literature, copy, cyclopedia, data, document, draft, edited version, encyclopedia, engrossment, erotic literature, erotica, essay, facts, fair copy, fiction, final draft, finished version, first draft, flimsy, folk literature, holograph, humane letters, information, kitsch, leaflets, letter, letters, literae scriptae, literary artefact, literary production, lore, lucubration, manuscript, materials, matter, medieval literature, national literature, nonfiction, obscene literature, opus, original, pamphlets, paper, parchment, penscript, piece, piece of writing, play, poem, polite literature, pop literature, popular literature, pornographic literature, pornography, printed matter, printout, production, propaganda, pseudonymous literature, publications, publicity, reading matter, recension, republic of letters, scatological literature, screed, scrip, script, scrive, scroll, second draft, serious literature, store of knowledge, system of knowledge, the written word, transcript, transcription, travel literature, treasury of information, typescript, underground literature, version, wisdom literature, work, writing, writings

ROGET THESAURUS

Literature

Language

N language, phraseology, speech, tongue, lingo, vernacular, mother tongue, vulgar tongue, native tongue, household words, King's English, Queen's English, dialect, confusion of tongues, Babel, pasigraphie, pantomime, onomatopoeia, betacism, mimmation, myatism, nunnation, pasigraphy, lexicology, philology, glossology, glottology, linguistics, chrestomathy, paleology, paleography, comparative grammar, literature, letters, polite literature, belles lettres, muses, humanities, literae humaniores, republic of letters, dead languages, classics, genius of language, scholarship, lingual, linguistic, dialectic, vernacular, current, bilingual, diglot, hexaglot, polyglot, literary, syllables govern the world.

Knowledge

N knowledge, cognizance, cognition, cognoscence, acquaintance, experience, ken, privity, insight, familiarity, comprehension, apprehension, recognition, appreciation, intuition, conscience, consciousness, perception, precognition, acroamatics, light, enlightenment, glimpse, inkling, glimmer, glimmering, dawn, scent, suspicion, impression, discovery, system of knowledge, body of knowledge, science, philosophy, pansophy, acroama, theory, aetiology, etiology, circle of the sciences, pandect, doctrine, body of doctrine, cyclopedia, encyclopedia, school, tree of knowledge, republic of letters, erudition, learning, lore, scholarship, reading, letters, literature, book madness, book learning, bookishness, bibliomania, bibliolatry, information, general information, store of knowledge, education, culture, menticulture, attainments, acquirements, acquisitions, accomplishments, proficiency, practical knowledge, liberal education, dilettantism, rudiments, deep knowledge, profound knowledge, solid knowledge, accurate knowledge, acroatic knowledge, acroamatic knowledge, vast knowledge, extensive knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge, encyclopedic learning, omniscience, pantology, march of intellect, progress of science, advance of science, advance of learning, schoolmaster abroad, scholar, knowing, cognitive, acroamatic, aware of, cognizant of, conscious of, acquainted with, made acquainted with, privy to, no stranger to, au fait with, au courant, in the secret, up to, alive to, behind the scenes, behind the curtain, let into, apprized of, informed of, undeceived, proficient with, versed with, read with, forward with, strong with, at home in, conversant with, familiar with, erudite, instructed, leaned, lettered, educated, well conned, well informed, well read, well grounded, well educated, enlightened, shrewd, savant, blue, bookish, scholastic, solid, profound, deep-read, book- learned, accomplished, omniscient, self-taught, known, ascertained, well-known, recognized, received, notorious, noted, proverbial, familiar, familiar as household words, familiar to every schoolboy, hackneyed, trite, trivial, commonplace, cognoscible, cognizable, to one's knowledge, to the best of one's knowledge, one's eyes being opened, ompredre tout c'est tout pardonner, to know all is to pardon all, empta dolore docet experientia, gnothi seauton, half our knowledge we must snatch not take, Jahre lehren mehr als Bucher, years teach more than books, knowledge comes but wisdom lingers, knowledge is power, les affaires font les hommes, nec scire fas est omnia, the amassed thought and experience of innumerable, was ich nicht weiss macht mich nicht heiss.