belles-lettres
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Crossing the line between belles-lettres and pulp, Petry was a pioneer of the literary thriller, a genre popularised by her contemporary Patricia Highsmith.
From The Guardian • Dec. 14, 2019
“Both anatomy and belles-lettres are of equally noble descent,” Chekhov once wrote to his publisher, adding that they share “identical goals and an identical enemy—the Devil.”
From The New Yorker • May 6, 2019
Dandies, it seems, are dandy; but belles-lettres is better.
From The New Yorker • Aug. 3, 2015
It was not a period when belles-lettres particularly flourished.
From Slate • Mar. 22, 2012
More recently in Carmel there have been a great number of literary men about, but there is not the old flavor, the old dignity of the true belles-lettres.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
