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literal
(redirected from literalising)

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
lit·er·al  (ltr-l)
adj.
1. Being in accordance with, conforming to, or upholding the exact or primary 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.
5. Conforming or limited to the simplest, nonfigurative, or most obvious meaning of a word or words.
n. Computer Science
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 litterlis, of letters, from Latin littera, ltera, letter; see letter.]

liter·al·ness n.

literal
Adjective
1. in exact accordance with the explicit meaning of a word or text
2. word for word: a literal translation
3. dull or unimaginative: she's very, very literal and flat in how she interprets what she sees
4. true; actual
Noun
a misprint or misspelling in a text [Latin littera letter]
literally adv
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.literal - a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind
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"
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 2. unimaginative, boring, dull, down-to-earth, matter-of-fact, factual, prosaic, colourless, uninspired, prosy
adjective 3. actual, real, true, simple, plain, genuine, gospel, bona fide, unvarnished, unexaggerated
Translations
Spanish literal [ˈlɪtərl] adjliteral
French literal [ˈlɪtərl] adjlittéral(e)
German literal [ˈlɪtərəl] adjwörtlich, eigentlich; [translation] → (wort)wörtlich
Italian literal [ˈlɪtərl] adjletterale

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