as in colloquial
used in or suitable for speech and not formal writing
poems written in a natural, unliterary voice
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Recent Examples of unliterary
The bond between Alice and the spiky, decidedly unliterary Felix might flummox.
—
New York Times, 1 Sep. 2021
Both were born as writers in public libraries—hyper-bright American Jewish urban boys from unliterary backgrounds, encountering the classics on their own, without too much pre-sorting, responding with delight, imitation, amusement, and familiarity.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unliterary
Adjective
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The colloquial term Paczki Day is used for Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.—
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In this context, something as small and lightweight as a pair of earrings could serve as the colloquial glue that united people under one national identity, at a moment in history when destabilization and separation were the modi operandi of a country sharing a border with Ukraine.—
Adjective
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The Upside Down, a dark, gooey parallel universe of Hawkins, and its predatory demogorgons became part of their middle school vernacular.—
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In vernacular languages up to the early modern period in Europe, cognates of conversatio often conveyed a sense of physical closeness: gathering or dwelling together.—
Cite this Entry
“Unliterary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unliterary. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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