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Literalness

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.05 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.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.literalness - adhereing to the concrete construal of something
concreteness - the quality of being concrete (not abstract)

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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
She was a long, lean, pale person, habited apparently in a dull-colored dressing gown, and she spoke with a kind of mild literalness.
Rachel read what she chose, reading with the curious literalness of one to whom written sentences are unfamiliar, and handling words as though they were made of wood, separately of great importance, and possessed of shapes like tables or chairs.
 
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