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 Key is publishing in partnership with the Palestine Festival of Literature, a literary organization that Yasin has worked with since 2013, after meeting the novelist and PalFest co-founder Ahdaf Soueif and getting the opportunity to travel and write in Palestine.
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James Folta, Literary Hub, 11 Mar. 2026
In wartime, death no longer carries the sacred, sublime aura found both in German Romanticism and Russian literary tradition.
—Hanlu Zhang, Artforum, 10 Mar. 2026
Today, many literary translators and translation teachers regard it warily.
—Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
Greenblatt, a literary historian best known for his 2004 biography of William Shakespeare, here turns his attention to the Elizabethan playwright—and Shakespeare competitor—Christopher Marlowe.
—Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for literary
James Folta, Literary Hub, 11 Mar. 2026
In wartime, death no longer carries the sacred, sublime aura found both in German Romanticism and Russian literary tradition.
—Hanlu Zhang, Artforum, 10 Mar. 2026
Today, many literary translators and translation teachers regard it warily.
—Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
Greenblatt, a literary historian best known for his 2004 biography of William Shakespeare, here turns his attention to the Elizabethan playwright—and Shakespeare competitor—Christopher Marlowe.
—Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for literary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for literary
Adjective
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What made the incident even more striking was that most of Audubon Zoo’s sleepy lizards were bred in captivity, implying the reaction was an innate response instead of learned behavior.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
17 Sep. 2025
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This kind of trading is seen as a form of learned behavior, where dogs associate a specific action with a reward.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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But the cinematic room is so great for making sure that these intellectual ideas become visceral.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Mar. 2026
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Radić, who is 60 and the second Chilean architect to win the award, has designed dozens of buildings that have earned him a formidable reputation in artistic and intellectual circles.—
Neda Ulaby,
NPR,
12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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For professionals who work with contracts, reports, invoices, or academic documents, PDF Agile consolidates essential PDF functions into a single lifetime license without ongoing subscription fees.—
StackCommerce Team,
PC Magazine,
9 Mar. 2026
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They are left scarred and live on quietly together as their academic careers fall apart.—
Meg Walters,
Glamour,
9 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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However bookish my ideal of it, going to Antarctica aligned with my idea of myself as tough, independent, and not old.—
Cree LeFavour,
New Yorker,
7 Mar. 2026
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Thomas Harris grew up in the South as a bookish outcast, reading the works of Ernest Hemingway and Jonathan Swift.—
Costa Beavin Pappas,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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At the heart of this debate seems to be both a misunderstanding of the point of scholastic sports and a view, at least by some, that trans girls have an unfair physical advantage.—
Peter Jensen,
Baltimore Sun,
21 Jan. 2026
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In a white paper released in October, the committee recommends moving the men’s game, and perhaps the women’s, from the current fall-only schedule to one that covers the entire scholastic year and culminates in an April playoff festival.—
Luke Cyphers,
Sportico.com,
12 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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The dazzlingly witty and erudite script, by Robert Kaplow, is nominated for Best Original Screenplay; Hawke, who is rightly nominated for Best Actor, delivers one of his richest and most surprising performances.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
11 Mar. 2026
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Enrigue is an erudite, charismatic raconteur—the sort who will tell you the most abject story with a wink—and his novel distills a byzantine swirl of historical events through the lives of a handful of very colorful characters.—
Carolina A. Miranda,
The Atlantic,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Literary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/literary. Accessed 16 Mar. 2026.
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