literature

/ˈlɪɾərətʃər/

/ˈlɪtrətʃər/

Other forms: literatures

Literature is writing, usually good, creative, or smart writing, or at least we hope it is. If you love books and have stacks of them at home, then you are a lover of literature.

Literature comes from the Latin root litterātūra, or lettered, but there are higher standards for literature than just something written down. Novels and stories are considered literature. If you're a practicing psychologist, you have keep up with the current literature on psychology, which is what researching psychologists write, not novels about shrinks. You might want your profession to be literature, but you'll probably have to teach literature while you're waiting for the book deal.

Definitions of literature

1. 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”

   types:

   historiography

   a body of historical literature

   type of:

   piece of writing, writing, written material

   the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect)
2. noun

   creative writing of recognized artistic value
   types:

   Sanskrit literature

   Hindu literature written in Sanskrit

   canon

   a set group of works that are considered to be high quality and representative of a field

   Hastinapura

   one of two classical Hindu epics; a great collection of poetry worked into and around a central heroic narrative (eight times as large as the Iliad and Odyssey combined)

   Purana

   a body of 18 works written between the first and 11th centuries and incorporating legends and speculative histories of the universe and myths and customary observances

   tantra

   any of a fairly recent class of Hindu or Buddhist religious literature concerned with ritual acts of body and speech and mind

   sutra

   a rule or aphorism in Sanskrit literature or a group of aphoristic doctrinal summaries prepared for memorization

   type of:

   piece of writing, writing, written material

   the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect)
3. noun

   the profession or art of a writer
   “her place in literature is secure”

   type of:

   profession

   an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)
4. noun

   the humanistic study of a body of literature
   synonyms: lit

   type of:

   literary study

   the humanistic study of literature