literal
/ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/
literal adjective: exactly as stated; read or understood without interpretation; according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical; following the letter or exact words; not taking liberties; etymonic rather than idiomatic. Also the misspelling of littoral.
Adjective
literal (comparative more literal, superlative most literal)
- Exactly as stated; read or understood without interpretation; according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical; following the letter or exact words; not taking liberties; etymonic rather than idiomatic.
- The literal translation of Spanish irse al otro barrio is "to go to the other neighbourhood" but it means "to die".
- A literal reading of the law would prohibit it, but that is clearly not the intent.
- Synonyms:
- verbatim, word-for-word
- Actual, real, physical.
- Mechanically, operating this hybrid vehicle is sort of a cross between driving a car and taming an animal, which means the movie treats the audience to the sight of a man (pretending to be a teenager) driving a literal monster truck in a field next to a woman (also pretending to be a teenager)...2017 January 12, Jesse Hassenger, “A literal monster truck is far from the stupidest thing about Monster Trucks”, in The Onion AV Club
- That which generally assumes that the plainest reading of a given text is correct but which allows for metaphor where context indicates it.
- Following the historical-grammatical method of biblical interpretation.
- It is most important to distinguish literalistic from literal interpretation. [...] ‘Literalistic’ interpretation is like word-for-word translation that yields the verbally exact or ‘formally equivalent’ versions but also runs the risk of overlooking the main (illocutionary) point. Literal...1998, Kevin Vanhoozer, “6. Redeeming the Text: The Rationality of Literary Acts”, in Is There a Meaning in This Text?, page 311
- Consisting of, or expressed by, letters (of an alphabet); using literation.
- a literal equation
- Unimaginative; matter-of-fact; literal-minded.
- Used nonliterally as an intensifier. See literally for usage notes.
- Telemarketers are the literal worst.
Noun
literal (plural literals)
- A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.
- Synonyms:
- typo
- An atomic formula (consisting of a propositional variable) or its negation.
- A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.
- Synonyms:
- literal constant
Also used as
literal is also the misspelling of littoral.
literal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
literal in Hindi
- शाब्दिक
literal in Tamil
- சொல்லர்த்தமான, சொல்லர்த்தமானது
literal in Marathi
- शाब्दिक
literal in Bengali
- আক্ষরিক
More languagesFewer languages
- literal in Gujarati
- શાબ્દિક
- literal in Odia
- ଆକ୍ଷରିକ
- literal in Nepali
- शाब्दिक
- literal in Arabic
- لَفْظِيّ lafẓiyy, حَرْفِيّ ḥarfiyy
- literal in Indonesian
- literal, harfiah
- literal in Persian
- تحتاللفظی taht-ol-lafzi
- literal in Vietnamese
- nghĩa đen
Examples of literal in a sentence
- a middle course between the rigour of literal translations and the liberty of paraphrasts[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC...
- Literal interpretation, on the other hand, is more like a translation that strives for dynamic equivalence and yields the literary sense.1998, Kevin Vanhoozer, “6. Redeeming the Text: The Rationality of Literary Acts”, in Is There a Meaning in This Text?, page 311:
Synonyms of literal
- verbatim
- word-for-word
- typo
- literal constant
Antonyms
Forms of literal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more literal |
| superlative | most literal |
| alternative abbreviation | lit. |
| alternative form (obsolete) | litteral |
| Noun | |
| plural | literals |
Origin of literal
From Middle English literal, from Old French literal, from Late Latin litteralis or literalis (“of or pertaining to letters or to writing”), from Latin littera or litera (“a letter”). See letter.
Words formed from literal
- antiliteral
- biliteral
- duoliteral
- hexaliteral
- hyperliteralism
- illiteral
- literal equation
- literalism
- literalist
- literalistic
- literality
- literalization
- literalize
- literalise
- literally
- literal-minded
- literalness
- literal rule
- literal theonymy
- monoliteral
- multiliteral
- pluriliteral
- quadriliteral
- quinqueliteral
- transliteral
- triliteral
- uniliteral
- unliteral
Phrases with literal
Questions about literal
- What does literal mean?
- Literal means exactly as stated; read or understood without interpretation; according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical; following the letter or exact words; not taking liberties; etymonic rather than idiomatic.
- What is literal in Hindi?
- Literal in Hindi is शाब्दिक. See Literal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use literal in a sentence?
- a middle course between the rigour of literal translations and the liberty of paraphrasts
- What part of speech is literal?
- Literal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce literal?
- Literal is pronounced /ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/.
Words near literal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: literal (page history and authors); literal (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); literal (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); literal (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); literal (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); literal (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); literal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); literal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-literal.wav.
Cite this entry: “literal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/literal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.