literal

• litteral (obsolete)

Borrowed from Old French literal, from Late Latin litteralis, also literalis (“of or pertaining to letters or to writing”), from Latin littera, litera (“a letter”); see letter.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/[1]
• Homophone: littoral

literal (comparative more literal, superlative most literal)

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

   The literal translation is “hands full of bananas” but it means empty-handed.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Hooker

     a middle course between the rigour of literal translation and the liberty of paraphrasts

   • 2017 January 12, Jesse Hassenger, “A literal monster truck is far from the stupidest thing about Monster Trucks”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     Mechanically, operating this hybrid vehicle is sort of a cross between driving a car and taming an animal, which means the movie treats the audience to the sight of a man (pretending to be a teenager) driving a literal monster truck in a field next to a woman (also pretending to be a teenager) riding a horse.

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

   A literal reading of the law would prohibit it, but that is clearly not the intent.

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

   a literal equation

   • (Can we date this quote?) Johnson

     The literal notation of numbers was known to Europeans before the ciphers.

4. (of a person) Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of-fact.
5. (proscribed) Used non-literally as an intensifier; see literally for usage notes.

   Telemarketers are the literal worst.

• (exactly as stated): figurative, metaphorical

• letter
• literacy
• literary
• literate
• literature

literal (plural literals)

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

   Synonym: literal constant

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

• constant
• prime formula

• literal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• literal in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• tallier

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

literal (masculine and feminine plural literals)

1. literal

• literalment

• lletra

• “literal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

literal m or f (plural literais)

1. literal

• literalmente

• letra

• “literal” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

• IPA^(key): /ˌlɪtəˈʁaːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

literal (comparative literaler, superlative am literalsten)

1. (of cultures, etc., not of individuals) literate

   Es gibt orale und literale Kulturen.

   There are oral and literate cultures.

• schreibkundig

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

literal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular literale)

1. literal (exactly as stated)
2. literal (relating to or composed of letters)

• English: literal
• French: littéral

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

literal m or f (plural literais, comparable)

1. literal (understood exactly as written, without additional interpretation)

• literalmente

literal m (plural literais)

1. (programming) literal (value written in the source code)

• letra
• letrado
• literatura

• literal in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

literal (plural literales)

1. literal

• literalmente

• letra

• “literal” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.