noun
Meaning 1
plural of letter
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
letters
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American: /ˈlɛtɚz/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈlɛtəz/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: L EH1 T ER0 Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Literature (school subject).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Rickert was the first woman (and second individual) to be awarded a Ph.D. in English letters and philology with that academic honor at the University of Chicago.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The liberal arts, humanities, learning (broad accumulated cultural knowledge).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Though architecture in ancient Rome was not generally considered to belong to the artes liberales, Vitruvius easily qualified as a man of letters because of his wide learning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
third-person singular simple present indicative of letter
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
the literary culture
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- this book shows American letters at its best
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: culture
noun
Meaning 6
scholarly attainment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he is a man of letters
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: eruditeness, erudition, learnedness, learning, scholarship, encyclopedism, encyclopaedism
History
Etymology
No etymology was provided for this word.
Real reading context