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Meaning of "belles-lettres" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD BELLES-LETTRES

From French: fine letters.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF BELLES-LETTRES

belles-lettres  [French] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF BELLES-LETTRES

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Belles-Lettres is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES BELLES-LETTRES MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Belles-lettres

Belles-lettres or belles lettres is a term that is used to describe a category of writing. A writer of belles-lettres is a belletrist. However, the boundaries of that category vary in different usages. Literally, belles-lettres is a French phrase meaning "beautiful" or "fine" writing. In this sense, therefore, it includes all literary works—especially fiction, poetry, drama, or essays—valued for their aesthetic qualities and originality of style and tone. The term thus can be used to refer to literature generally. The Nuttall Encyclopedia, for example, described belles-lettres as the "department of literature which implies literary culture and belongs to the domain of art, whatever the subject may be or the special form; it includes poetry, the drama, fiction, and criticism," while the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition describes it as "the more artistic and imaginative forms of literature, as poetry or romance, as opposed to more pedestrian and exact studies.

Definition of belles-lettres in the English dictionary

The definition of belles-lettres in the dictionary is literary works, esp essays and poetry, valued for their aesthetic rather than their informative or moral content.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH BELLES-LETTRES


aubade
French
auberge
French
boudin
French
chanteuse
French
coquille
French
entente
French
entremets
French
Fauve
French
flacon
French
longueur
French
mondaine
French
monsieur
French
poussin
French
quinze
French
remblai
French
verlan
French

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE BELLES-LETTRES

bellbind
bellbird
bellboy
bellcote
belle
Belle Isle
Belleau Wood
Belleek
Bellerophon
belleter
belletrism
belletrist
belletristic
belletristical
bellflower
bellfounder
bellfoundry
bellhanger
bellhop
bellibone

WORDS THAT END LIKE BELLES-LETTRES

acres
apres
Ares
Baleares
Buenos Aires
Chartres
features
Flores
futures
housewares
manufactures
measures
pictures
pour encourager les autres
res
scores
shores
Soares
stores
the pictures

Synonyms and antonyms of belles-lettres in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «belles-lettres» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF BELLES-LETTRES

Find out the translation of belles-lettres to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of belles-lettres from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «belles-lettres» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

纯文学
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

bellas letras
570 millions of speakers

English

belles-lettres
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

Belles - LETTRES
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الادب، الآداب
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

художественная литература
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

belas-letras
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

রম্যরচনা
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

belles-lettres
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Belles-lettres
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Belletristik
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

純文学
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

미인 - LETTRES
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Belles-lettres
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

belles - lettres
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

Belles-லெட்டர்ஸ்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

बेलेल-लेटेर्स
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

belles-lettres
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

belles - lettres
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

literatury pięknej
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

художня література
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

belles - lettres
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

Γραμμάτων
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

belletrie
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

belles -lettres
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

Belles- Lettres
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of belles-lettres

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «BELLES-LETTRES»

The term «belles-lettres» is regularly used and occupies the 72.788 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
66
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «belles-lettres» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of belles-lettres
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «belles-lettres».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «BELLES-LETTRES» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «belles-lettres» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «belles-lettres» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about belles-lettres

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «BELLES-LETTRES»

Discover the use of belles-lettres in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to belles-lettres and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Abbasid Belles Lettres
This volume covers artistic prose and poetry produced in the 'Abbasid empire from the mid-eighth to the thirteenth centuries AD.
Julia Ashtiany, 1990
2
Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres
Hugh Blair. fiiad. I admit, at the same time, that imitation and description agree in their principal effect, of recalling, by external signs, the ideas of things which we do not see. But, though in this they coincide, yet it should not be forgotten that the  ...
Hugh Blair, 1839
3
The World's Oldest Literature: Studies in Sumerian ...
Literature begins at Sumer, we may say.
William W. Hallo, 2010
4
Modern Ladino Culture: Press, Belles Lettres, and Theater in ...
Olga Borovaya explores the emergence and expansion of print culture in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), the mother tongue of the Sephardic Jews of the Ottoman Empire, in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Olga Borovaya, 2011
5
The Belles Lettres Papers
Jonathan Margin and Newbold Press, the man everyone loves to bait, struggle for editorial control of a book review magazine
Charles Simmons, 1988
6
The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, ...
t observes, that only one mode of liquidatil can save England. This cxpcdient,it is trt has something oriental about it, which in' naturally startle 'our European State- A ' rants. c preposcs bankruptcy. The is harsh, but the cli'cct of the measure w be  ...
7
Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres
This edition of John M. Lothian’s transcription of an almost com­plete set of a student’s notes on Smith’s lectures given at the University of Glasgow in 1762–63 brings back into print not only an important discovery but a valuable ...
Adam Smith, John Maule Lothian, 1963
8
Of bunsen burners, bones, and belles lettres: classic essays ...
Offer your students the finest examples of writing in the disciplines with this collection of twenty-eight classic and contemporary essays.
James D. Lester, 1996
9
The Formation of College English: Rhetoric and Belles ...
The Formation of College English reexamines the civic concerns of rhetoric and the politics that have shaped and continue to shape college English.
Thomas P. Miller, 1997
10
Belles-Lettres
A. Layres. a separate department of study called Oratory, or Rhetoric. Hence, we have set that apart in the third book. 18. Each species of composition may belong to a triple order, high, middle and low, according to the nature of the subject of ...
A. Layres, 1867

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «BELLES-LETTRES»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term belles-lettres is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Où sont les successeurs de Cavanna ? Peut-être sur Internet
Je connais dans le milieu huppé des belles-lettres françaises quelques journalistes trous du cul pompeux qui trou-du-cul-pompisent dans ... «Rue89, Jun 15»
2
New York City Ballet Promotes Three Dancers
... Peter Martins' Romeo + Juliet (Juliet) and Hallelujah Junction; Justin Peck's Belles-Lettres; Alexei Ratmansky's Pictures at an Exhibition; and ... «Broadway World, Jun 15»
3
MOVIE REVIEW: 'Far From the Madding Crowd' is a cinema sanctuary
Scratch the genteel patina of the era in question's belles-lettres and the discontent is there for the examining – millennia of class domination ... «New Jersey Hills, Jun 15»
4
Fashion and ballet: How a mutual obsession with the body creates …
... Belles-Lettres (“Fine Writing”) echoed her alphabet-inspired pre-spring 2014 collection. You were left wondering which came first: her letters, ... «The Independent, May 15»
5
Kick-Off SPAC's Big 50th Celebration This Season!
... feature a one-time-only program including the Saratoga premiere of Peck's new ballet, 'Belles-Lettres' and Alexei Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an ... «Saratoga.com, May 15»
6
10 Habits of the World's Greatest Learners
... or ten languages (in four of them even without preparation), and she translated technical literature and read belles-lettres in six languages. «Innovation Excellence, May 15»
7
In Memoriam: William W. Hallo, expert on ancient Near East
I am very glad that I was able to help him publish his last book, 'The World's Oldest Literature: Studies in Sumerian Belles-Lettres,' a 2009 ... «Yale News, Mar 15»
8
McMullen show examines range of Roman influence
... and in the 1920s and '30s it was excavated by teams from Yale University and the French Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. «Boston Globe, Feb 15»
9
Against Self-Criticism
... gave the name of Academia Cartellane, and in connection with it wrote an immense quantity of belles-lettres composed in a humorous vein. «London Review of Books, Feb 15»
10
Latest from 'Reading Lolita' author Azar Nafisi explores liberating …
... less alone while in solitude—something akin to magic—is delivered through literature, particularly the Iranian-born author's specialty: American belles-lettres. «The JHU Gazette, Feb 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Belles-Lettres [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/belles-lettres>. May 2024 ».
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