as in intelligentsia
intellectuals considered as a social class
Boston's 19th-century literati often referred to their city as "the Athens of America"
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Recent Examples of literati
From our review: At first the screen adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s exquisite novel of the same name, a quiet miracle woven of wry glances at New York literati and a piercing ache, feels too smooth, too glossy.
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The New York Times, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
These things have set up a direct line to a specific kind of metropolitan, cool girl literati.
—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 14 June 2024
Over the last decade or so, ethnic identity, at least among the internet literati, has been governed by a certain essentialism that holds that culture is biologically ordained by blood.
—Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2024
The publisher, William Blackwood, sent copies to select members of the British literati, including Charles Dickens.
—Namwali Serpell, The New York Review of Books, 12 Oct. 2023
See All Example Sentences for literati
The New York Times, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
These things have set up a direct line to a specific kind of metropolitan, cool girl literati.
—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 14 June 2024
Over the last decade or so, ethnic identity, at least among the internet literati, has been governed by a certain essentialism that holds that culture is biologically ordained by blood.
—Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2024
The publisher, William Blackwood, sent copies to select members of the British literati, including Charles Dickens.
—Namwali Serpell, The New York Review of Books, 12 Oct. 2023
See All Example Sentences for literati
Cite this Entry
“Literati.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/literati. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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