Do you know what literal meaning is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on literal meaning, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
-
Kevin
-
December 6, 2021
-
Common Questions
Your writing, at its best
Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant
What is literal meaning?
According to Your Dictionary, literal meaning refers to the explicit meaning of a word or literal meaning of a sentence. In the context of utterance of a sentence, this refers to the truth-conditions or set of background assumptions that we take as an assumption of the truth. We assume that the semantic content uses literal language. The literal notation is different from the figurative sense; denotation versus connotation. Often, we take things in a literal sense for the literal truth. The word literal has been used since Middle English comes from Old French, the Latin littera and Late Latin litterālis. The word literal is an adjective. This word can be used in many different contexts, such as a literal translation versus a translation that uses figures of speech, a literal description versus an exaggeration, a literal mind that can only take exact words in a strict sense or unimaginative way, and more. These semantics of pragmatics are important to understand in comparison to figurative language.
Many different languages also contain words that mean literal. You may notice that some of these translations of literal look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of literal is provided by Word Sense.
- Greek: κατά γράμμα
- Mandarin: 字面 (zìmiàn)
- Dutch: letterlijk
- Catalan: literal
- Icelandic: bókstaflegur
- Portuguese: literal
- Danish: bogstavelig
- German: wörtlich, buchstäblich
- Swedish: bokstavlig
- French: littéral
- Galician: literal
- Finnish: kirjaimellinen, sananmukainen
- Romanian: literally (masc.) (n), literală (fem.)
- Armenian: բառացի
- Russian: буква́льный, досло́вный
- Spanish: literal
- Macedonian: буквален (bukvalen)
- Czech: doslovný (masc.)
- Japanese: 逐語的
- Italian: letterale, alla lettera
What are examples of literal?
The word literal can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of literal that can help get you started incorporating this word into your everyday use.
- The participants in the trial are given a literal set of criterion to assess.
- Katz and Wilson took Sperber literally and instead of drawing a bath, drew a picture of a bath. What relevance a drawing had, he did not know.
- There was a literal inaccuracy and misprint in the book in the form of a typographical error. It was off by a single letter, but needed to be in exact accordance or it changed the meaning.
What are synonyms and antonyms of literal?
There are many different words that one can use in place of the word literal. These are called synonyms, which are words and phrases that have the same meaning as another word or phrase. Synonyms are a useful tool to know in the English language because they can help people to avoid repeating themselves while simultaneously growing their vocabulary. This list of synonyms for the word literal is provided by Power Thesaurus.
- meticulous
- narrow
- word for word
- unvarnished
- error
- literally
- corrigendum
- authentic
- literals
- detailed
- denotative
- straightforward
- specific
- bona fide
- undistorted
- literal error
- particular
- true
- proper
- conventional
- error-free
- misprints
- concrete
- correct
- narrowest
- literal-minded
- realistic
- errata
- methodical
- on the money
- actual
- precise
- dull
- written
- accurate
- on the button
- letter
- genuine
- objective
- unexaggerated
- unadulterated
- explicit
- conscientious
- unerring
- punctilious
- factual
- unembellished
- verbatim
- erratum
- misprint
- basic
- veracious
- usual
- exact
- real
- apparent
- word-for-word
- simple
- natural
- good
- pedantic
- faithful
- careful
- definite
- downright
- faultless
- honest
- truthful
- lexical
- clear-cut
- literatim
- rigorous
- direct
- textual
- letter-for-letter
- bare
- strict
- veritable
- pure
- phrasal
- plain
- unrhetorical
- boring
- right
- scrupulous
- unimaginative
- close
- matter-of-fact
- narrower
- perfect
- mistake
- verbal
- valid
- just
- ordinary
- typo
- typographical error
- veridical
- prosaic
- rigid
The word literal also has a number of antonyms, or opposite words. These words have the opposite definition as the word spectrum. Learning antonyms is another quick and easy way to expand your English language vocabulary. This list of antonyms of literal is also provided by Power Thesaurus.
- imaginary
- disorganized
- fishy
- guileful
- erroneous
- imprecise
- metaphorical
- faked
- concocted
- fabricated
- forged
- dissembling
- ambiguous
- deceiving
- fictitious
- analogical
- artificial
- iffy
- mistaken
- allegoric
- bogus
- inexact
- indefinite
- hollow
- duplicitous
- amorphous
- coloured
- surreal
- fuzzy
- wrong
- biased
- deceitful
- untruthful
- romantic
- exaggerated
- counterfactual
- dissimulating
- corrupt
- in error
- approximate
- anomalous
- corrupted
- imperfect
- inexistent
- inequitable
- colored
- dishonest
- imaginative
- counterfeit
- allegorical
- not close
- illogical
- abnormal
- nonliteral
- distorted
- incorrect
- dodgy
- improper
- fanciful
- hypothetical
- invalid
- specious
- unreliable
- factitious
- inaccurate
- conjectural
- cooked-up
- indirect
- atypical
- unsound
- figural
- deviant
- ideal
- invented
- fantastic
- fancy
- fallacious
- untrue
- inauthentic
- false
- aberrant
- apocryphal
- faulty
- fictional
- assuming
- extended
- loose
- tropical
- illegitimate
- inappropriate
- emblematic
- dicey
- careless
- flawed
- fake
- figurative
- defective
- incomplete
- fraudulent
- deceptive
What are other literary techniques and devices?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these devices because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of literary devices from Reedsy and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
- Litotes
- Anachronism
- Juxtaposition
- Chiasmus
- Point of view
- Motif
- Tone
- Onomatopoeia
- Tragicomedy
- Colloquialism
- Isocolon
- Imagery
- Malapropism
- Soliloquy
- Allusion
- Euphemism
- Aphorism
- Foreshadowing
- Frame story
- Paradox
- Anastrophe
- Metonymy
- Repetition
- Anaphora
- Dramatic irony
- Archetype
- Zoomorphism
- Irony
- Metaphor
- Cumulative sentence
- Polysyndeton
- Flashback
- Satire
- Personification
- Simile
- Exposition
- Symbolism
- Anthropomorphism
- In Medias Res
- Synecdoche
- Allegory
- Tmesis
- Tautology
- Hypophora
- Oxymoron
Overall, the word literal means exactly as stated.
Sources:
