English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle English literal, 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.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

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, and etymonic rather than idiomatic.
    The literal translation is "hands full of bananas" but it means "empty-handed".
    • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, [], London: [] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
      a middle course between the rigour of literal translations 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[2]:
      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. (theology) (broadly) That which generally assumes that the plainest reading of a given scripture is correct but which allows for metaphor where context indicates it; (specifically) following the historical-grammatical method of biblical interpretation
  4. (uncommon) Consisting of, or expressed by, letters (of an alphabet)
    a literal equation
  5. (of a person) Unimaginative; matter-of-fact
  6. (proscribed) Used non-literally as an intensifier; see literally for usage notes.
    Telemarketers are the literal worst.

Antonyms

edit

Hyponyms

edit

Derived terms

edit
edit

Translations

edit

Noun

edit

literal (plural literals)

  1. (epigraphy, typography) A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.
    Synonym: typo
  2. (programming) A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.
    Synonym: literal constant
  3. (logic) A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable. Wp

Translations

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Archived copy”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[1], 2016 June 6 (last accessed), archived from the original on 25 July 2016

Further reading

edit

Anagrams

edit

Catalan

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

literal m or f (masculine and feminine plural literals)

  1. literal

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

Galician

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

Adjective

edit

literal m or f (plural literais)

  1. literal

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

German

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

literal (strong nominative masculine singular literaler, comparative literaler, superlative am literalsten)

  1. literate (of cultures, etc., not of individuals)
    Es gibt orale und literale Kulturen.
    There are oral and literate cultures.

Declension

edit

See also

edit

Indonesian

edit

Etymology

edit

From English literal, from Old French literal, from Late Latin litteralis, also literalis (of or pertaining to letters or to writing), from Latin littera, litera (a letter).

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): [litəˈral]
  • Hyphenation: li‧tê‧ral

Adjective

edit

literal

  1. literal.
    Synonym: harfiah

Further reading

edit

Old French

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

Adjective

edit

literal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular literale)

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

Descendants

edit
  • English: literal
  • French: littéral

Portuguese

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

Pronunciation

edit
 

  • Rhymes: -al, -aw
  • Hyphenation: li‧te‧ral

Adjective

edit

literal m or f (plural literais)

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

Derived terms

edit

Noun

edit

literal m (plural literais)

  1. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (programming) literal (value written in the source code)
edit

Further reading

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

Romanian

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from French littéral, from Latin litteralis. By surface analysis, literă +‎ -al.

Adjective

edit

literal m or n (feminine singular literală, masculine plural literali, feminine and neuter plural literale)

  1. literal

Declension

edit

Spanish

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Late Latin litterālis.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /liteˈɾal/ [li.t̪eˈɾal]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: li‧te‧ral

Adjective

edit

literal m or f (masculine and feminine plural literales)

  1. literal

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

Tagalog

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Spanish literal.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

literál (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜆᜒᜇᜎ᜔)

  1. literal (exactly as stated)

Derived terms

edit
edit