To describe something as literal is to say that it is exactly what it seems to be. For example, if you put up a literal barrier to keep the world out, you've actually built a real wall.
According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical;
Noun
a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind
Adjective S.
without interpretation or embellishment; "a literal translation of the scene before him"
Adjective S.
(of a translation) corresponding word for word with the original; "literal translation of the article"; "an awkward word-for-word translation"
Adjective
limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text; "a literal translation"
Adjective S.
of the clearest kind; usually used for emphasis; "it''s the literal truth"; "a matter of investment, pure and simple"
Adjective S.
lacking stylistic embellishment; "a literal description"; "wrote good but plain prose"; "a plain unadorned account of the coronation"; "a forthright unembellished style"
Adjective S.
being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something; "her actual motive"; "a literal solitude like a desert"- G.K.Chesterton; "a genuine dilemma"
a.
According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not
figurative or metaphorical; as, the literal meaning of a phrase.
a.
Following the letter or exact words; not free.
a.
Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.
a.
Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative;
matter-of fast; -- applied to persons.
n.
Literal meaning.
Literal
It hath but one simple literal sense whose light the owls can not abide.. 2.
A middle course between the rigor of literal translations and the liberty of paraphrasts.3.
The literal notation of numbers was known to Europeans before the ciphers.4.
Literal
According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical;
Literal meaning.
Usage Examples
A lot of us grow up and we grow out of the literal interpretation that we get when we're children, but we bear the scars all our life. Whether they're scars of beauty or scars of ugliness, it's pretty much in the eye of the beholder.
I have a need to make these sorts of connections literal sometimes, and a vehicle often helps to do that. I have a relationship to car culture. It isn't really about loving cars. It's sort of about needing them.
I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands what the car and the adding machine understand, namely, exactly nothing.
In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom - along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.
Misspelled Formliteral, kliteral, oliteral, pliteral, :literal, kiteral, oiteral, piteral, :iteral, lkiteral, loiteral, lpiteral, l:iteral, luiteral, l8iteral, l9iteral, loiteral, ljiteral, lkiteral, luteral, l8teral, l9teral, loteral, ljteral, lkteral, liuteral, li8teral, li9teral, lioteral, lijteral, likteral, lirteral, li5teral, li6teral, liyteral, ligteral, lireral, li5eral, li6eral, liyeral, ligeral, litreral, lit5eral, lit6eral, lityeral, litgeral, litweral, lit3eral, lit4eral, litreral, litseral, litderal, litwral, lit3ral, lit4ral, litrral, litsral, litdral, litewral, lite3ral, lite4ral, literral, litesral, litedral, liteeral, lite4ral, lite5ral, litetral, litefral, liteeal, lite4al, lite5al, litetal, litefal, litereal, liter4al, liter5al, litertal, literfal, literqal, literwal, litersal, literzal, literql, literwl, litersl, literzl, literaql, literawl, literasl, literazl, literakl, literaol, literapl, litera:l, literak, literao, literap, litera:, literalk, literalo, literalp, literal:.
Other Usage ExamplesThe sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.
Watch the History Channel if you want it literal and historically perfect.
That sense of a life in natural objects, which in most poetry is but a rhetorical artifice, was, then, in Wordsworth the assertion of what was for him almost literal fact.
The human being is in the most literal sense a political animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can individuate itself only in the midst of society.
Not only is the self entwined in society it owes society its existence in the most literal sense.
Comments