| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| literature |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | lit·er·a·ture |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  l t  r--ch r , -chr |
| NOUN: | 1. The body of written works of a language, period, or culture. 2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value: “Literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity” (Rebecca West). 3. The art or occupation of a literary writer. 4. The body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field: medical literature. 5. Printed material: collected all the available literature on the subject. 6. Music All the compositions of a certain kind or for a specific instrument or ensemble: the symphonic literature. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, book learning, from Old French litterature, from Latin litter t ra, from littertus, lettered. See literate.
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
