men of letters
Erudite writing class
Men of letters are writers, scholars, and intellectuals—people whose lives center on literary and intellectual pursuits.
The phrase evokes an earlier era when learned men formed a distinct class, corresponding and debating across Europe: The salon gathered the great men of letters of the age.
The singular man of letters describes an individual of broad learning and literary accomplishment.
The phrase sounds dated now, partly because it excludes women.
- biographerOne who writes lives
- writerCreator of texts
- public intellectualScholar engaging broad audiences
- public figureProminent, widely recognized person
- philosopherStudent of fundamental questions
poet · rhetorician · aphorist · educator · translator · memoirist · essayist · pen and ink · written word · historian · storyteller · scholar · savant · playwright · critic · polymath · ivory tower · intellectual life
men of lettersmanual laborers
Workers using physical effort
blue-collar workers · laborers · workmen · tradesmen · craftsmen
men of lettersilliterates
People unable to read
philistines · anti-intellectuals · barbarians · ignoramuses · lowbrows
men of letterscommon folk
Ordinary members of society
ordinary people · the masses · commoners · plebeians · hoi polloi
letters, letter, lettered, lettering, letterhead, unlettered, literal, literally, literate