adjective
- taking words in their exact meaning without metaphor or hidden meaning
- actual or real; not exaggerated
- concerned with letters or literature
Usage: formal
noun
- a misprint of a letter in a text
Usage: printing
Examples
- She gave a literal translation of the French poem.
- His literal interpretation of the rules caused problems.
- The literal meaning of the word differs from its slang usage.
- It was a literal disaster – the building actually collapsed.
- The editor found several literals in the manuscript.
- Don’t take his comment so literally; he was joking.
- The literal sense of the passage is quite different from the symbolic one.