LITERAL

literal

(adjective) without interpretation or embellishment; “a literal depiction of the scene before him”

literal

(adjective) limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text; “a literal translation”

literal

(adjective) avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis); “it’s the literal truth”

actual, genuine, literal, real

(adjective) being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something; “her actual motive”; “a literal solitude like a desert”- G.K.Chesterton; “a genuine dilemma”

misprint, erratum, typographical error, typo, literal error, literal

(noun) a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

literal (comparative more literal, superlative most literal)

Exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical.

• Hooker

Following the letter or exact words; not free; not taking liberties.

(uncommon) Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.

• Johnson

(of a person) Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of-fact.

(proscribed) Used non-literally as an intensifier; see literally for usage notes.

Antonyms

• (exactly as stated): figurative, metaphorical

Noun

literal (plural literals)

(epigraphy, typography) A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.

Synonym: typo

(programming) A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.

Synonym: literal constant

(logic) A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable. ^Wp

Anagrams

• tallier

Source: Wiktionary

Lit"er*al, a. Etym: [F. litéral, littéral, L. litteralis, literalis, fr. littera, litera, a letter. See Letter.]

1. According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical; as, the literal meaning of a phrase. It hath but one simple literal sense whose light the owls can not abide. Tyndale .

2. Following the letter or exact words; not free. A middle course between the rigor of literal translations and the liberty of paraphrasts. Hooker.

3. Consisting of, or expressed by, letters. The literal notation of numbers was known to Europeans before the ciphers. Johnson.

4. Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of fast; -- applied to persons. Literal contract (Law), 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.

Lit"er*al, n.

Definition: Literal meaning. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition