LITERALLY

literally

(adverb) (intensifier before a figurative expression) without exaggeration; “our eyes were literally pinned to TV during the Gulf War”

literally

(adverb) in a literal sense; “literally translated”; “he said so literally”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adverb

literally (comparative more literally, superlative most literally)

word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor

Synonyms: actually, really, Thesaurus:actually

Antonyms: figuratively, metaphorically, virtually

(degree, figuratively, proscribed, contranym) Used non-literally as an intensifier for figurative statements: virtually, so to speak (often considered incorrect; see usage notes)

Synonym: virtually

(colloquial) Used to intensify or dramatise non-figurative statements; tending towards a meaningless filler word in repeated use.

(colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner: just, merely.

Synonyms: merely, Thesaurus:merely

Usage notes

Literally is the opposite of figuratively and many authorities object to the use of literally as an intensifier for figurative statements. For example “you literally become the ball”, without any figurative sense, means actually transforming into a spherical object, which is clearly impossible. Rather, the speaker is using literally as an intensifier, to indicate that the metaphor is to be understood in the strongest possible sense. This type of usage is common in informal speech (“she was literally in floods of tears”) and is attested since 1769.

Source: Wiktionary

Lit"er*al*ly, adv.

1. According to the primary and natural import of words; not figuratively; as, a man and his wife can not be literally one flesh.

2. With close adherence to words; word by word. So wild and ungovernable a poet can not be translated literally. Dryden.

LITERAL

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