as in learned
suggestive of the vocabulary used in books
the novel's dialogue is a little too literary in flavor to be entirely convincing
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Recent Examples of literary
The French writer Paul Valéry’s way of being a modernist—indeed, for several generations of readers, an arch emblem and theorist of literary modernism—was different.
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Benjamin Kunkel, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
That’s why millions turned to a year-old movie on Netflix and a literary classic to try and make sense of the turmoil.
—Chris Morris, Fortune Asia, 6 Dec. 2024
One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Colombian literary giant Gabriel García Márquez’s 1967 magnum opus, presents different problems.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 2 Dec. 2024
In the journalist’s provocative new work, Eve Babitz’s diary-like letters provide a window into her fellow literary titan, Joan Didion.
4.
—The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for literary 
Benjamin Kunkel, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
That’s why millions turned to a year-old movie on Netflix and a literary classic to try and make sense of the turmoil.
—Chris Morris, Fortune Asia, 6 Dec. 2024
One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Colombian literary giant Gabriel García Márquez’s 1967 magnum opus, presents different problems.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 2 Dec. 2024
In the journalist’s provocative new work, Eve Babitz’s diary-like letters provide a window into her fellow literary titan, Joan Didion.
4.
—The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for literary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for literary
Adjective
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Some of the industry’s challenges come down to the need to change learned behaviors, Brugal said, rather than to physical or technical roadblocks.Sam Meredith, CNBC, 17 Oct. 2024
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Bring back the learned society of common people reading and discussing challenging topics.Caroline Beck, The Indianapolis Star, 16 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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American culture, society, and education broadly divides people into two separate intellectual camps from childhood: left brain thinkers adept at logic and math and right brained thinkers geared toward creativity.Chadd Scott, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024
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Once the police have deposited Elwood in Nickel’s run-down barracks for Black inmates, Ross extends the dramatic force of his method while expanding its intellectual scope.Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The Los Angeles Unified School District reported 11 incidents of nitrous oxide possession during the 2023-24 academic school year.Jasmine Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2024
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Most men’s rights activists, however, turned their attention to laws at the state and local level during the 1980s and 1990s, along with academic understandings of gender violence.Theresa Iker / Made by History, TIME, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The story is about a bookish Black girl, in love with English literature (and the emotionally indecipherable white professor teaching it) at a predominantly white university in 1949, losing her childhood illusions — and then, in a gothic twist, losing much more.Scott Brown, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2022
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Bryce Young is bookish, too.Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com, al, 9 Dec. 2022
Adjective
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Starting this scholastic year, the program is donating 175,000 euros to institutions located in the U.S. and U.K. Plans are afoot to expand globally in the future.Jennifer Weil, WWD, 18 Oct. 2024
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Public health, the work of public health cannot be principally scholastic.Washington Post Live, Washington Post, 25 July 2024
Adjective
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Everett arranges the resulting fragments into a grim picture: The folksy charm of Jim, Huck Finn’s loyal traveling companion on the run from slavery, is replaced with the devilish wit of James, a serious, erudite man making tough choices in deadly situations.The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024
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Sherwood is an eloquent writer and an erudite historian, and the photography is excellent too.Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 4 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near literary
Cite this Entry
“Literary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/literary. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
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