literal

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Being in accordance with, conforming to, or upholding the exact or primary meaning of a word or words.
  2. adjective Word for word; verbatim: a literal translation.
  3. adjective Avoiding exaggeration, metaphor, or embellishment; factual; prosaic: a literal description; a literal mind.
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Examples

  • This last expression is literal, and was twice uttered in the course of the evening. —  A Residence in France
  • I give you my honour this conversation is literal, and, perhaps, as long as you have known Englishmen and painters, you never met with anything so distracted. —  Letters of Horace Walpole 01
  • He cannot deny that Paul believed absolutely in the physical, literal, and material fact of Christ's bodily Resurrection. —  Matthew Arnold
  • It would of course have been possible, by disentangling dove-tailed sentences and by giving the approximate meaning where the literal was impossible, to turn all this into fairly smooth English. —  Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt
  • There have been some very amusing instances given of the matter-of-fact obedience paid to orders by Highland retainers when made to perform the ordinary duties of domestic servants; as when Mr. Campbell, a Highland gentleman, visiting in a country house, and telling Donald to bring everything out of the bedroom, found all its movable articles — fender, fire-irons, etc. — piled up in the lobby; so literal was the poor man's sense of obedience to orders! —  Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character
 

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Literal has been looked up 267 times, favorited 0 times, listed 11 times, and commented on twice.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin litterālis, of letters, from Latin littera, lītera, letter; see letter.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French literal, French littéral = Spanish literal = Portuguese litteral = Italian litterale, letterale, from Late Latin litteralis, literalis, of or belonging to letters or to writing, from Latin littera, litera, a letter, litteræ, literæ, letters: see letter, n.
 

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/ˈlɪtərəl/
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