literal

taking words in their primary sense without metaphor or allegory: the literal meaning of a word; expressed by letters; actual, factual, truthful, exact, reliable

Not to be confused with:

littoral – pertaining to the shore of a lake, the sea, etc.; a region lying along a shore

lit·er·al

(lĭt′ər-əl)

adj.

1. Conforming or limited to the simplest, nonfigurative, or most obvious meaning of a word or words.

2. Word for word; verbatim: a literal translation.

3. Avoiding exaggeration, metaphor, or embellishment; factual; prosaic: a literal description; a literal mind.

4. Consisting of, using, or expressed by letters: literal notation.

n. Computers

A letter or symbol that stands for itself as opposed to a feature, function, or entity associated with it in a programming language: $ can be a symbol that refers to the end of a line, but as a literal, it is a dollar sign.

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

lit′er·al·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

literal

(ˈlɪtərəl)

adj

1. in exact accordance with or limited to the primary or explicit meaning of a word or text

2. word for word

3. dull, factual, or prosaic

4. consisting of, concerning, or indicated by letters

5. true; actual

6. (Mathematics) maths containing or using coefficients and constants represented by letters: ax² + b is a literal expression. Compare numerical^3a

(Literary & Literary Critical Terms) Also called: literal error a misprint or misspelling in a text

[C14: from Late Latin litterālis concerning letters, from Latin littera letter]

ˈliteralness, literality n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lit•er•al

(ˈlɪt ər əl)

adj.

1. in accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of a word or words; not figurative or metaphorical.

2. following the words of the original very closely and exactly: a literal translation.

3. true to fact; unembellished; actual or factual: a literal description of conditions.

4. being actually such, without exaggeration or inaccuracy: the literal extermination of a city.

5. tending to construe words in the strict sense or in an unimaginative way.

6. of, pertaining to, or expressed by the letters of the alphabet.

7. affecting a letter or letters: a literal error.

8. a typographical error, esp. involving a single letter.

[1350–1400; < Late Latin litterālis of letters. See letter, -al¹]

lit′er•al•ness, n.

literal

– literary – literate

1. 'literal'

The literal meaning of a word is its most basic meaning.

She was older than I was, and not only in the literal sense.

The literal meaning of the Greek word hamartia, translated as sin, is 'missing the mark'.

2. 'literary'

Literary words and expressions are used to create a special effect in poems or novels, and are not usually used in ordinary speech or writing.

'Awaken' and 'waken' are old-fashioned or literary words.

Literary also means 'connected with literature'.

...literary critics.

...literary magazines.

3. 'literate'

A literate person is able to read and write.

Only half the children are literate.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	literal - a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind erratum, literal error, misprint, typo, typographical error mistake, error - part of a statement that is not correct; "the book was full of errors"
Adj.	1.	literal - being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something; "her actual motive"; "a literal solitude like a desert"- G.K.Chesterton; "a genuine dilemma" actual, genuine, real true - consistent with fact or reality; not false; "the story is true"; "it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true"- B. Russell; "the true meaning of the statement"
	2.	literal - without interpretation or embellishment; "a literal depiction of the scene before him" exact - marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact; "an exact mind"; "an exact copy"; "hit the exact center of the target"
	3.	literal - limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text; "a literal translation" exact - marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact; "an exact mind"; "an exact copy"; "hit the exact center of the target" unrhetorical - not rhetorical figurative, nonliteral - (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech; "figurative language"
	4.	literal - avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis); "it's the literal truth" plain - not elaborate or elaborated; simple; "plain food"; "stuck to the plain facts"; "a plain blue suit"; "a plain rectangular brick building"

literal

adjective

1. exact, close, strict, accurate, faithful, verbatim, word for word a literal translation

2. unimaginative, boring, dull, down-to-earth, matter-of-fact, factual, prosaic, colourless, uninspired, prosy He is a very literal person.

3. actual, real, true, simple, plain, genuine, gospel, bona fide, unvarnished, unexaggerated He was saying no more than the literal truth.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

literal

adjective

Employing the very same words as another:

verbal, verbatim, word-for-word.

Translations

حَرْفيحَرْفي الفَهْم أو التَّرْجَمَه

doslovnývěrnýčistý

bogstaveligordretrenskinbarlig

wörtlich buchstäblichLiteral

κυριολεκτικός

literal

kirjaimellinensananmukainensanatarkka

littéral épistolaire

bókstaflegurorîréttur

letterale pedissequo preciso prosaico

文字上の文字通り逐語的な

grynaspažodinispažodiškumaspažodžiuitiesiog

burtiskspareizsprecīzs

letter letterlijkliteraalstrikt

bokstavelig ordrett

буквенный

asıl gerçekkelimesi kelimesinesözlük anlamı

无夸张的确确实实的逐字的

literal

[ˈlɪtərəl]

A. ADJ

1. [sense, translation] → literal
they follow a literal interpretation of the Bible → siguen la Biblia al pie de la letra
to be literal about sth → tomar algo al pie de la letra
he's a very literal person → es una persona que todo se lo toma al pie de la letra
see also literal-minded

2. (as intensifier) a literal fact → un hecho real
the literal truth → la pura verdad

B. N (Typ) → errata f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

literal

[ˈlɪt^ərəl] adj [sense, meaning, translation] → littéral(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

literal

adj

(esp Typ) literal error → Schreib-/Tipp-/Druckfehler m

translation, meaning, sense → wörtlich; in the literal sense (of the word) → im wörtlichen Sinne

(= real) that is the literal truth → das ist die reine Wahrheit; it was a literal disaster → es war im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes eine Katastrophe; the literal impossibility of working there → die völlige or buchstäbliche Unmöglichkeit, dort zu arbeiten

(= prosaic) → nüchtern, prosaisch; he has a very literal mind or is very literal-minded → er denkt sehr nüchtern, er ist sehr prosaisch

n → Schreib-/Tipp-/Druckfehler m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

literal

[ˈlɪt/ər/əl]

1. adj (meaning, translation) → letterale; (account) → testuale; (person) → prosaico/a

2. n (Brit) (Typ) → refuso

literal

(ˈlitərəl) adjective

1. following the exact meaning with no exaggeration. the literal truth.

2. understanding the meaning by taking one word at a time. a literal translation.

ˈliteralness noun

ˈliterally adverb

We had literally a minute to catch the train.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

As this work professes, in its title-page, to be a descriptive tale, they who will take the trouble to read it may be glad to know how much of its contents is literal fact, and how much is intended to represent a general picture.

View in context

The dissertations are the only part in which an exact translation has been attempted, and even in those abstracts are sometimes given instead of literal quotations, particularly in the first; and sometimes other parts have been contracted.

View in context

de Orat.); and the loose and desultory style is an imitation of the 'accustomed manner' in which Socrates spoke in 'the agora and among the tables of the money-changers.' The allusion in the Crito may, perhaps, be adduced as a further evidence of the literal accuracy of some parts.

View in context

You might almost say, that this strange uncompromisedness in him involved a sort of unintelligence; for in his numerous trades, he did not seem to work so much by reason or by instinct, or simply because he had been tutored to it, or by any intermixture of all these, even or uneven; but merely by a kind of deaf and dumb, spontaneous literal process.

View in context

When I say petticoat, I use the word in its literal sense, not colloquially as a metaphor for its usual wearer, meaning thereby a dainty feminine undergarment seen only by men on rainy days, and one might add washing-days.

View in context

Its distinguishing principle, probability, corresponds to the literal actuality of the photograph and puts it distinctly into the category of reporting; whereas the free wing of the romancer enables him to mount to such altitudes of imagination as he may be fitted to attain; and the first three essentials of the literary art are imagination, imagination and imagination.

View in context

I don't mean to say that I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the flesh, or had ever come in contact with his literal mind and his dauntless temperament.

View in context

This would be to admit that they might be kept up IN TIME OF PEACE, against threatening or impending danger, which would be at once to deviate from the literal meaning of the prohibition, and to introduce an extensive latitude of construction.

View in context

Moreover a blunt and stolid regard for literal truth indisposes them to make those lavish promises by which the more judicious Circle can in a moment pacify his consort.

View in context

"Why -- why -- yes, I like him, of course," gasped Anne, wondering if she were telling the literal truth.

View in context

And his stepping out was literal. A collision on the elevated, a panic scramble of the uninjured out upon the trestle over the street, a step on the third rail, and Harry Del Mar was engulfed in the Nothingness which men know as death and which is nothingness in so far as such engulfed ones never reappear nor walk the ways of life again.

View in context

"`Tisn't in mine head, it's in mine mouf," answered literal Demi, putting out his tongue, with a chocolate drop on it, thinking she alluded to confectionery, not ideas.

View in context