Definition of literature
- n. - Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.
- n. - 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.
- n. - 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.
- n. - The occupation, profession, or business of doing
literary work.