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Definitions for: Literal
[n] a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind
[adj] without interpretation or embellishment; "a literal translation of the scene before him"
[adj] (of a translation) corresponding word for word with the original; "literal translation of the article"; "an awkward word-for-word translation"
[adj] limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text; "a literal translation"
[adj] of the clearest kind; usually used for emphasis; "it's the literal truth"; "a matter of investment, pure and simple"
[adj] lacking stylistic embellishment; "a literal description"; "wrote good but plain prose"; "a plain unadorned account of the coronation"; "a forthright unembellished style"
[adj] 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"
Webster (1913) Definition: Lit"er*al, a. [F. lit['e]ral, litt['e]ral, 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.
Literal meaning. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
Synonyms: actual, denotative, erratum, exact, explicit, genuine, literal error, misprint, plain, pure and simple, real, true, typo, typographical error, unembellished, word-for-word
Antonyms: figurative, nonliteral
See Also: error, mistake, unrhetorical
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