Belles-lettres, n. pl.
Etymology: [F.]
Polite or elegant literature; the humanities; -- used somewhat vaguely for literary works in which imagination and taste are predominant.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for belles-lettres; he lists it under literature.
Where he writes about it:
Literature, used absolutely, denotes what has been called "polite literature" or belles-lettres, i. e., the works collectively that embody taste, feeling, loftiness of thought, and purity and beauty of style, as poetry, history, fiction, and dramatic compositions, including also much of philosophical writing, as the "Republic" of Plato, and oratorical productions, as the orations of Demosthenes. — from literature
Antonyms
none given