belletristicadj.
/bɛlləˈtrɪstɪk/ Of or pertaining to belles-lettres.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [adjective]
literalc1450
literate1558
bookish1567
paper1592
literary1605
literatory1652
belletristical1799
belletristic1821
belletrist1889
lit.1895
written1909
1821 S. T. Coleridge in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 10 254 I wish I could find a more familiar word than æsthetic, for works of taste and citicism. It is, however, in all respects better, and of more reputable origin, than belletristic.
1864 Reader 2 Apr. 427/2 To start from the first of April the Grand Journal, as a belletristic weekly.
1866 M. Arnold in Cornhill Mag. 13 290 An unlearned belletristic trifler like me.
1868 M. Pattison Suggestions Acad. Organisation §5. 293 We have risen above the mere belletristic treatment of classical literature.
Derivatives
belleˈtristical adj. (also †belles-leˈttristical)
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [adjective]
literalc1450
literate1558
bookish1567
paper1592
literary1605
literatory1652
belletristical1799
belletristic1821
belletrist1889
lit.1895
written1909
1799 W. Taylor in J. W. Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) I. 259 His belles-lettristical pedantry.
1840 Fraser's Mag. 21 199 No historical, biographical, geographical, or belle lettristical book..would now have much chance.
belleˈtristically adv.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [adverb]
literarily1765
belletristically1894
1894 Westm. Gaz. 25 June 3/1 He trifles bellettristically around ghosts,..and the relation of ghosts to religion.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
<
adj.1799