belles-lettres

/ˌbɛlˈlɛtɹ(ə)/

noun 3

Collocations

ADJ.

half, important

VERB + BELLES-LETTRES

naturalized

PREP.

noun

The humanities.

Literature, particularly light compositions valued for their aesthetic properties.

That vapid, half naturalized term ‘belles-lettres,’ which has had some currency as a substitute for the term ‘literature.’

Literary studies, particularly literary aesthetics.

That vapid, half naturalized term ‘belles-lettres,’ which has had some currency as a substitute for the term ‘literature.’

Wiktionary

I corrected the punctuation somewhat, but not rigorously, because that is less important in belles-lettres.

Tatoeba · #1852688

i Register

In some senses, belles-lettres is marked as obsolete, archaic. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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