literal

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: lit=er=al

CIDE DICTIONARY

literal, a. [F. litéral, littéral, L. litteralis, literalis, fr. littera, litera, a letter. See Letter.].

•  According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical; as, the literal meaning of a phrase.  [1913 Webster]

  "It hath but one simple literal sense whose light the owls can not abide."  [1913 Webster]
•  Following the letter or exact words; not free.  [1913 Webster]

  "A middle course between the rigor of literal translations and the liberty of paraphrasts."  [1913 Webster]
•  Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.  [1913 Webster]

  "The literal notation of numbers was known to Europeans before the ciphers."  [1913 Webster]
•  Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of-fact; -- applied to persons.  [1913 Webster]

Literal contract (Law), a contract of which the whole evidence is given in writing. Bouvier. -- Literal equation (Math.), an equation in which known quantities are expressed either wholly or in part by means of letters; -- distinguished from a numerical equation.

literal, n. 

 Literal meaning.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

literal, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 taking words in their usual or primary sense without metaphor or allegory (literal interpretation).
2 following the letter, text, or exact or original words (literal translation; a literal transcript).
3 (in full literal-minded) (of a person) prosaic; matter of fact.
4 a not exaggerated (the literal truth). b so called without exaggeration (a literal extermination).
5 colloq. disp. so called with some exaggeration or using metaphor (a literal avalanche of mail).
6 of, in, or expressed by a letter or the letters of the alphabet.
7 Algebra not numerical.
--n. Printing a misprint of a letter.

Derivative

literality n. literalize v.tr. (also -ise). literally adv. literalness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF literal or LL litteralis f. L littera (as LETTER)

THESAURUS

literal

Christian, abecedarian, accepted, allographic, alphabetic, approved, arid, authentic, authoritative, barren, basic, bona fide, boring, candid, canonical, capital, card-carrying, colorless, conventional, correct, customary, denotative, dictionary, dinkum, down-to-earth, dry, dull, earthbound, essential, etymological, evangelical, exact, faithful, firm, following the letter, genuine, good, graphemic, honest, honest-to-God, humdrum, ideographic, inartificial, infecund, infertile, lawful, legitimate, lettered, lexical, lexigraphic, lifelike, literatim, logogrammatic, logographic, lower-case, majuscule, matter-of-fact, minuscular, minuscule, mundane, natural, naturalistic, objective, of the faith, original, orthodox, orthodoxical, pictographic, precise, proper, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pure, real, realistic, received, right, rightful, scriptural, semantic, simon-pure, simple, simplistic, sincere, sound, staid, standard, sterling, stolid, strict, stuffy, sure-enough, tedious, textual, traditional, traditionalistic, transliterated, true, true to life, true to nature, true to reality, true-blue, unadulterated, unaffected, unassumed, unassuming, unbiased, uncial, uncolored, uncomplicated, unconcocted, uncopied, uncounterfeited, undisguised, undisguising, undistorted, unembellished, unexaggerated, unfabricated, unfanciful, unfeigned, unfeigning, unfictitious, unflattering, unideal, unimaginative, unimagined, unimitated, uninspired, uninvented, uninventive, unoriginal, unpoetic, unprejudiced, unpretended, unpretending, unqualified, unromantic, unromanticized, unsimulated, unspecious, unsynthetic, unvarnished, upper-case, verbal, verbatim, veridical, verisimilar, word-for-word

ROGET THESAURUS

literal

Letter

N letter, character, hieroglyphic, type, capitals, digraph, trigraph, ideogram, ideograph, majuscule, minuscule, majuscule, minuscule, alphabet, ABC, abecedary, christcross-row, consonant, vowel, diphthong, triphthong, mute, liquid, labial, dental, guttural, syllable, monosyllable, dissyllable, polysyllable, affix, suffix, spelling, orthograph, phonography, phonetic spelling, anagrammatism, metagrammatism, cipher, monogram, anagram, doubleacrostic, literal, alphabetical, abecedarian, syllabic, majuscular, minuscular, uncial.

Word

N word, term, vocable, name, phrase, root, etymon, derivative, part of speech, ideophone, dictionary, vocabulary, lexicon, glossary, index, concordance, thesaurus, gradus, delectus, etymology, derivation, glossology, terminology orismology, paleology, lexicography, glossographer, lexicologist, verbarian, verbal, literal, titular, nominal, conjugate, paronymous, derivative, verbally, verbatim, the artillery of words.

Imitation

N imitation, copying, transcription, repetition, duplication, reduplication, quotation, reproduction, mimeograph, xerox, facsimile, reprint, offprint, mockery, mimicry, simulation, impersonation, personation, representation, semblance, copy, assimilation, paraphrase, parody, take-off, lampoon, caricature, plagiarism, forgery, counterfeit, celluloid, imitator, echo, cuckoo, parrot, ape, monkey, mocking bird, mime, copyist, copycat, plagiarist, pirate, imitated, mock, mimic, modelled after, molded on, paraphrastic, literal, imitative, secondhand, imitable, aping, apish, mimicking, literally, to the letter, verbatim, literatim, sic, totidem verbis, word for word, mot a mot, exactly, precisely, like master like man, like - but oh! how different!, genius borrows nobly, pursuing echoes calling 'mong the rocks, quotation confesses inferiority, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Observance

N observance, performance, compliance, acquiescence, concurrence, obedience, fulfillment, satisfaction, discharge, acquittance, acquittal, adhesion, acknowledgment, fidelity, exact, observance, observant, faithful, true, loyal, honorable, true as the dial to the sun, true as the needle to the pole, punctual, punctilious, literal, as good as one's word, faithfully, ignoscito saepe alteri nunquam tibi, tempori parendum, to God, thy country, and thy friend be true.

Truth

N truth, fact, reality, plain fact, plain matter of fact, nature, truth, verity, gospel, gospel truth, God's honest truth, orthodoxy, authenticity, veracity, correctness, correctitude, accuracy, exactitude, exactness, preciseness, precision, delicacy, rigor, mathematical precision, punctuality, clockwork precision, conformity to rule, nicety, orthology, ipsissima verba, realism, plain truth, honest truth, sober truth, naked truth, unalloyed truth, unqualified truth, stern truth, exact truth, intrinsic truth, nuda veritas, the very thing, not an illusion, real Simon Pure, unvarnished tale, unvarnished truth, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, just the thing, real, actual, veritable, true, right, correct, certain, substantially true, categorically true, definitively true, true to the letter, true as gospel, unimpeachable, veracious, unreconfuted, unconfuted, unideal, unimagined, realistic, exact, accurate, definite, precise, well-defined, just, just so, so, strict, severe, close, literal, rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, religiously exact, punctual, mathematical, scientific, faithful, constant, unerring, curious, particular, nice, delicate, fine, clean-cut, clear-cut, verified, empirically true, experimentally verified, substantiated, proven (demonstrated), rigorously true, unquestionably true, true by definition, genuine, authentic, legitimate, orthodox, official, ex officio, pure, natural, sound, sterling, unsophisticated, unadulterated, unvarnished, unalloyed, uncolored, in its true colors, pukka, well-grounded, well founded, solid, substantial, tangible, valid, undistorted, undisguised, unaffected, unexaggerated, unromantic, unflattering, truly, verily, indeed, really, in reality, with truth, certainly, actually, in effect, exactly, ad amussim, verbatim, verbatim et literatim, word for word, literally, literatim, totidem vervis, sic, to the letter, chapter and verse, ipsissimis verbis, ad unguem, to an inch, to a nicety, to a hair, to a tittle, to a turn, to a T, au pied de la lettre, neither more nor less, in every respect, in all respects, sous tous les rapports, at any rate, at all events, strictly speaking, the truth is, the fact is, rem acu tetigisti, en suivant la verite, ex facto jus oritur, la verita e figlia del empo, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, crazy people and children tell the truth, nihil est veritatis luce dulcius, veritas nunquam perit, veritatem dies aperit, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

Meaning

N meaning, signification, significance, sense, expression, import, purport, force, drift, tenor, spirit, bearing, coloring, scope, substance, gist, essence, marrow, spirit, matter, subject, subject matter, argument, text, sum and substance, general meaning, broad meaning, substantial meaning, colloquial meaning, literal meaning, plain meaning, simple meaning, natural meaning, unstrained meaning, true meaning, honest meaning, &c 543 prima facie meaning, letter of the law, literally, after acceptation, synonym, implication, allusion, suggestion, figure of speech, acceptation, meaning, expressive, suggestive, allusive, significant, significative, significatory, pithy, full of meaning, pregnant with meaning, declaratory, intelligible, literal, synonymous, tantamount, implied, explicit, to that effect, that is to say.

Interpretation

N interpretation, definition, explanation, explication, solution, answer, rationale, plain interpretation, simple interpretation, strict interpretation, meaning, translation, rendering, rendition, redition, literal translation, free translation, key, secret, clew, clavis, crib, pony, trot, exegesis, expounding, exposition, hermeneutics, comment, commentary, inference, illustration, exemplification, gloss, annotation, scholium, note, elucidation, dilucidation, eclaircissement, mot d'enigme, symptomatology, semiology, semeiology, semiotics, metoposcopy, physiognomy, paleography, oneirology acception, acceptation, acceptance, light, reading, lection, construction, version, equivalent, equivalent meaning, synonym, paraphrase, metaphrase, convertible terms, apposition, dictionary, polyglot, explanatory, expository, explicative, explicatory, exegetical, construable, polyglot, literal, paraphrastic, metaphrastic, consignificative, synonymous, equivalent, in explanation, that is to say, id est, videlicet, to wit, namely, in other words, literally, strictly speaking, in plain, in plainer terms, in plainer words, in plainer English, more simply.

Manifestation

N manifestation, plainness, plain speaking, expression, showing, exposition, demonstration, exhibition, production, display, show, showing off, premonstration, exhibit, indication, publicity, disclosure, openness panchement, evidence, manifest, apparent, salient, striking, demonstrative, prominent, in the foreground, notable, pronounced, flagrant, notorious, arrant, stark staring, unshaded, glaring, defined, definite, distinct, conspicuous, obvious, evident, unmistakable, indubitable, not to be mistaken, palpable, self-evident, autoptical, intelligible, plain, clear, clear as day, clear as daylight, clear as noonday, plain as a pike staff, plain as the sun at noon-day, plain as the nose on one's face, plain as the way to parish church, explicit, overt, patent, express, ostensible, open, open as day, naked, bare, literal, downright, undisguised, exoteric, unreserved, frank, plain-spoken, candid (veracious), barefaced, manifested, disclosed, capable of being shown, producible, inconcealable, unconcealable, no secret, manifestly, openly, before one's eyes, under one's nose, to one's face, face to face, above board, cartes sur table, on the stage, in open court, in the open streets, in market overt, in the face of day, face of heaven, in broad daylight, in open daylight, without reserve, at first blush, prima facie, on the face of, in set terms, cela saute aux yeux, he that runs may read, you can see it with half an eye, it needs no ghost to tell us, the meaning lies on the surface, cela va sans dire, res ipsa loquitur, clothing the palpable and familiar, fari quae sentiat, volto sciolto i pensieri stretti, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the.