literal
/ˈlɪtərəl/
noun
- A small mistake in printing or writing, such as a misspelled letter.
- A single literal can change the meaning of a sentence.
- The editor caught a literal on page three: 'teh' instead of 'the'.
- Proofread your essay to avoid any literals.
adjective
- Taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or exaggeration.
- When she said she was 'dying of laughter,' she didn't mean it literally.
- The literal meaning of 'break a leg' is to fracture a bone, but it's used as a good luck wish.
- He gave a literal translation of the French sentence.
- Used for emphasis while not being strictly true; figurative (informal).
- I was so hungry I literally ate a whole pizza by myself.
- She literally ran a marathon without training — well, almost.
- The movie was so scary it literally made me jump out of my seat.
- Relating to or expressed in letters of the alphabet.
- The code uses literal strings enclosed in quotation marks.
- In some languages, literal characters represent sounds directly.
- The literal notation in the equation uses variables like x and y.
Antonyms