literal
120
3.5
- adjective
- /ˈlɪtərəl/
:
literal
- Final question, what is the literal meaning of espresso?
- literal meaning
- a literal interpretation
- literal and figurative
That's not the literal meaning of the words.
- That's not the literal meaning of the words.
- Guest I Which the best sort of literal translation is stuff I did.
- Like it's almost like a little too literal and like black and white.
- Yeah, just do living den instead, just as a more literal approach.
- Loneliness isn't just the literal presence of other human beings.
- How do you get through literal glass or acrylic?
- Bill gives me the guacamole, except he gives me a literal teaspoon of it.
- OK, It's the, the, the literal name of it is perimeter.
- I think that's manifested itself into literal dehydration.
- So picture your wall as a literal wall.
- You can expect literal people talking to each other.
Examples
-
There is something to be said for not knowing the literal meaning of words.
Fiction book (1993) -
In this case, it's the literal truth.
-
OK, there are literal dark places on the moon.
-
That's not the literal meaning of the words.
-
That should give me hours, literal hours of uninterrupted play.
-
Our house has become a literal shrine to Trump.
-
The rise of the machines, a literal SkyNet, is a real threat.
-
A physicist thinks of God as the Creator in a more literal sense than other people.
Fiction book (1996) -
We have lost the moral foundation of literal democracy, which is somehow rooted in reason and revelation.
Academic text (1991) -
The instructions provided were a literal translation of the original document.
Synonyms
1
8.4
Reading words exactly as they are and not looking for a deeper meaning
Using words that mean exactly what they say
A basic, exact meaning of a word without feelings or personal ideas
Antonyms
34
6.6
Language that describes one thing by comparing it to another, not its real meaning
Compounds
3
4.9
People understand words in their exact meaning without hidden or deeper ideas
How Literal
Surface Forms
Morphology
literal = liter + al
The adjective is formed with the combining form 'liter-' + the productive suffix '-al'; the meaning 'not figurative / relating to words/letters' is related but the root form is not a familiar standalone English word, so learners can only partially deduce the meaning.
Etymology
Literal comes from the Latin littera, meaning 'letter', and at first it meant 'by the letter', or exactly as written. So literal now means 'exact' and not figurative.