litcherally

Adverb

literally (comparative more literally, superlative most literally, abbreviation lit.)

1. Without overstatement or understatement, or false or misleading words.
   • He's prone to exaggeration, so don't take what he says literally.

   Synonyms:

   ad verbum

2. With phrasings that might normally be used or understood as figurative: truly; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor.
   • When I saw on the news that there would be no school tomorrow because of the snowstorm, I literally jumped for joy, and hit my head on the ceiling fan.

   Synonyms:

   ad verbum, actually, really, unfiguratively, unmetaphorically, above a bit, all things considered, as a matter of fact, by right, certainly

   Antonyms:

   figuratively, idiomatically, metaphorically, virtually

3. Draws attention to a pun or other wordplay involving an idiom.
   • My daughter's pet rabbit had babies, and now we've literally got rabbits coming out of our ears.

   Synonyms:

   ad verbum

4. (colloquial) Used as a general intensifier or dramatiser, sometimes tending towards a meaningless filler.
   • I had no idea, so I was literally guessing.
5. (proscribed, sometimes) Used as an intensifier with statements or terms that are in fact meant figuratively and not word for word as stated.
   • He was so surprised, he literally jumped twenty feet in the air.
6. (colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner: just, merely.
   • It's not even hard⁠ to make—you literally just put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.

   Synonyms:

   merely, barely, but, just, no more than, nothing but, only, simply