Word.ws English Dictionary

literalistic

/ˌlɪt(ə)ɹəˈlɪstɪk/

literalistic adjective: of or pertaining to literalism or literalists.

Adjective

literalistic (comparative more literalistic, superlative most literalistic)

  1. Of or pertaining to literalism or literalists.
    • Mr. Hagee’s views flow out of his adherence to what is known in evangelical circles as premillennial dispensationalism, a literalistic approach to biblical prophecy that places a special emphasis on the role of the nation of Israel in the end of history.2008 May 23, Neela Banerjee, “McCain Cuts Ties to Pastors Whose Talks Drew Fire”, in New York Times
  2. Using a method of interpretation regarded as woodenly, inflexibly, or simplistically literal in its perceived neglect of such considerations as context, genre, and authorial intent.
    • It is most important to distinguish literalistic from literal interpretation. The former generates an unlettered, ultimately illiterate reading—one that is incapable of recognizing less obvious uses of language such as metaphor, satire, and so forth. ... Interpreters err either when they allegorize...2014 August 20, Kevin Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in this Text?

Synonyms of literalistic

Forms of literalistic

comparativemore literalistic
superlativemost literalistic

Origin of literalistic

From literalist + -ic.

Words formed from literalistic

Questions about literalistic

What does literalistic mean?
Literalistic means of or pertaining to literalism or literalists.
What part of speech is literalistic?
Literalistic is an adjective.
How do you pronounce literalistic?
Literalistic is pronounced /ˌlɪt(ə)ɹəˈlɪstɪk/.

Words near literalistic in the dictionary

  1. literalises
  2. literalising
  3. literalism
  4. literalisms
  5. literalist
  6. literalistic
  7. literalistically
  8. literalists
  9. literalities
  10. literality
  11. literalization

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: literalistic (page history and authors). 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.

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