Literalness

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.

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

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liter·al·ness n.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

literalness - adhereing to the concrete construal of something concreteness - the quality of being concrete (not abstract)