Standard Lemma guide

litterateur

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • UK: /ˌlɪtəɹəˈtɜː/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˌlɪtəɹəˈtʊɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)
  • rhymes with -ʊə(ɹ)

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person engaged in various literary works: literary critic, essayist, writer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a writer of literary works

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: essayist

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: writer, author

Narrower terms: Lamb, Charles Lamb, Elia

History

Etymology

From the French littérateur, from the Latin litterātor (“critic”). Doublet of literator.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: littérateur — person engaged in various literary works
  • Polish: literat — person engaged in various literary works
  • Russian: литера́тор (literátor) — person engaged in various literary works