| / English Dictionary |
LITERAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind
Synonyms:
erratum; literal; literal error; misprint; typo; typographical error
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("literal" is a kind of...):
error; mistake (part of a statement that is not correct)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Without interpretation or embellishment
Example:
a literal depiction of the scene before him
Classified under:
Similar:
exact (marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact)
Derivation:
literalness (adhereing to the concrete construal of something)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text
Example:
a literal translation
Classified under:
Similar:
denotative; explicit (in accordance with fact or the primary meaning of a term)
Also:
exact (marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact)
unrhetorical (not rhetorical)
Antonym:
figurative ((used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech)
Derivation:
literalness (adhereing to the concrete construal of something)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis)
Example:
it's the literal truth
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something
Example:
a genuine dilemma
Synonyms:
actual; genuine; literal; real
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
true (consistent with fact or reality; not false)
Derivation:
literalness (adhereing to the concrete construal of something)
Context examples:
I beg your pardon, it is the literal truth: he asked me more than once, and was as stiff about urging his point as ever you could be.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“Just so,” said Mrs. Micawber, “my dear Mr. Traddles, I wish to be as prosaic and literal as possible on a subject of so much importance.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
When I say, therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The literal identifier of the laboratory that performs a pharmacokinetic concentration assessment.
(Pharmacokinetic Concentration Laboratory Name, NCI Thesaurus)
The literal identifier of the laboratory that performs a microbiology susceptibility assessment.
(Microbiology Susceptibility Laboratory Name, NCI Thesaurus)
The literal identifier of the laboratory that performs a microbiology specimen examination.
(Microbiology Specimen Laboratory Name, NCI Thesaurus)
The literal identifier of an external file name.
(Electrocardiogram External File Name, NCI Thesaurus)
She heard the words he uttered and understood their literal import, but she was not with him in his despair and his delight.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
An abbreviated literal identifier for a parameter.
(Parameter Short Name, NCI Thesaurus)
"'Tisn't in mine head, it's in mine mouf," answered literal Demi, putting out his tongue, with a chocolate drop on it, thinking she alluded to confectionery, not ideas.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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