From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishliterallit‧e‧ral /ˈlɪtərəl/ ●○○ adjective 1 EXACTthe literal meaning of a word or expression is its basic or original meaning → figurativeliteral meaning/sense/interpretation etc A trade war is not a war in the literal sense.2 → literal translation3 → literal-minded —literalness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
literal• But there we go, getting too literal again.• It's all painfully literal, and rather old-fashioned.• The resulting deep distrust provoked by social surfaces leaves Chandler unimpressed by anything as literal as an economic recovery.• But railways have also had a powerful literal effect upon religious movements around the world.• The joining of forces of the young and old represents a literal means of reconnecting tenses.• A trade war is not a war in the literal sense.• Cornerville man describes the gang member and his relationships in a very literal sense.• She felt as though she were sinking into its blue fabric in the most literal way.literal meaning/sense/interpretation etc• No. 1 with a bullet, in the most literal sense.• As Leon Brittan has pointed out, the phrase doesn't even carry the same literal meaning in every language.• Rather, the hearer is intended to use the literal meaning in figuring out what the speaker actually intends to communicate.• The literal meaning is not conclusive: the ordinary reader knows all about irony.• It seems that Freemantle was uneasy about poems which even in the most literal sense made the poet look bad.• Therefore, on the literal meaning of the words used, the applicants must fail.• But the Ahlbergs have no time for literal interpretations of their work.• Within the family it is usually the words and their literal meaning which take primary importance.Origin literal (1300-1400) French Medieval Latin literalis, from Latin littera; → LETTER1 