belletrist

variants also belle-lettrist
Definition of belletristnext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of belletrist The philologists, unlike the belletrists, were methodical and systematic, and given to expounding those methods and systems in lengthy treatises. Evan Kindley, The New York Review of Books, 16 Feb. 2023 Harrison is almost the textbook example of a belletrist—someone who writes essays more for their aesthetic effect than anything else. Bill Heavey, WSJ, 16 Sep. 2022 Locke the glossy belletrist gave way to Locke the fellow-traveller, Locke the savvy champion of proletarian realism. Tobi Haslett, The New Yorker, 11 May 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for belletrist
Noun
  • As a Jewish food writer and anthropologist of sorts, Joan Nathan had always been interested in her own family’s history.
    Jackie Hajdenberg, Sun Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2026
  • Every baseball fan who reads your venerable newspaper knows this great Hall of Fame baseball writer would never have deigned to explain the Mets’ disastrous spring with the aid of these equations.
    Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 21 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • Reflecting this, in 1726’s Gulliver’s Travels, the Irish litterateur Jonathan Swift satirized early scientists as buffoons.
    Thomas Moynihan, Big Think, 7 Mar. 2025
  • The book was first published anonymously, and its authorship is consequently uncertain, though usually attributed to a minor poet and litterateur named Wu Cheng’en.
    Washington Post, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2021
Noun
  • But Fleming leaps past other wry wordsmiths with his constant, unrelenting effort to wring every last drop of laughter out of every single premise.
    John Roy, Vulture, 19 Feb. 2026
  • An outstanding producer and a clever wordsmith.
    Victoria Uwumarogie, Essence, 27 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • Laurel DeWitt to bring her vision to life, along with makeup artist Yeika Glow and hair stylist Lateafa Alvaranga.
    Janine Rubenstein, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026
  • For more hands-on experiences, guests can ask their personal concierge to arrange a biscuit-making class with Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits, workshops with the hotel’s floral design team, or local shopping outings with stylist Steffani Schwerdt.
    Karla Walsh, Travel + Leisure, 19 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • No man, no matter his title, can change the Constitution with the stroke of a pen.
    Ediberto Roman, Sun Sentinel, 19 Apr. 2026
  • Putting pen to paper and writing it down is also something that’s very powerful.
    Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 17 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • According to his biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk disabled Starlink access within a hundred kilometers of the coast of Crimea in September 2022 in order to prevent an attack by Ukrainian drone submarines on the Russian Navy.
    Ben Tarnoff, Big Think, 23 Apr. 2026
  • Royal biographer Robert Hardman also sees a bit of Queen Elizabeth II in the young royal, who is the late monarch's great-granddaughter.
    Emma Banks, InStyle, 12 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • No such deals or even negotiation have been forthcoming and the trade body now feels an open letter backed by some of the UK’s top auteurs with combined credits including Black Mirror, The Crown and Slow Horses is its only recourse.
    Max Goldbart, Deadline, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Zendaya’s character, Marie, a depressive addict, who finds herself at complete unease in the Hollywood bestiary, claws at Malcolm, played by John David Washington, who is nothing more than a vessel for Levinson’s entitled auteur grievances.
    Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • Miley admires the Shakes enough to have invited their Sound & Color engineer, Shawn Everett, to join Something Beautiful’s production crew (also present: Cyrus’s punk-rock significant other, Maxx Morando; pop penman Michael Pollack; and members of indie-rock acts Foxygen and Alvvays).
    Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 June 2025
  • Its design by Leonardo Fioravanti, the prolific penman who created, among other Ferrari masterpieces, the Dino and 308 GTB, was an instant hit.
    Robert Ross, Robb Report, 28 Nov. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Belletrist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/belletrist. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.

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