LITERAL • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Literal

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/lˈɪtərəl/ Listen

Literal

adjective

Being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something. Synonyms: actual, genuine, real. "A literal solitude like a desert" , "A genuine dilemma"

Without interpretation or embellishment.

Limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text.

Avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis).

noun

A mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind. Synonyms: erratum, literal error, misprint, typo, typographical error.

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"Literal" Quotes from Famous Books

... head in literal protest at a doubt. "Why that's exactly what I mean by my gratitude for all your trouble. It has been just as if you took a particular interest." She only looked at him by way of answer in such sudden headlong embarrassment, as she was quite aware, that while ...

— In the Cage • Henry James

... cranium from the effects of the blaze, that it may not inflict immediate death. Under the excitement of ineffable and horrid joy, they whip him round the circle, that he may expose each part of his body to the flame, while the other part is fanned by the cool air, that he may thus undergo the literal operation of slow roasting. During this abhorrent process, the children fill the circle in convulsions of laughter; and the women begin to thrust their burning torches into his body, lacerating the quick of the flesh, that the flame may inflict more exquisite anguish. The warrior, in these cases; ...

— The First White Man of the West • Timothy Flint

... there are flower-forms which are naturally geometric, which have conventionalised themselves. Many of the intricate Moorish frets and Indian carvings are literal translations of flower-forms geometrically repeated, and here they lend themselves so perfectly to the decoration of even exterior walls that the fretted arches of some Eastern buildings seem almost to have grown of themselves, ...

— Principles of Home Decoration - With Practical Examples • Candace Wheeler

... here—and here—and here." With such a man, she felt, the direct and obvious appeal of Rose Stribling would be victorious. He could discern pink and white and blue and gold; but the indeterminate shades, the subtleties and mysteries of charm were enigmatical to him. His emotions would be as literal as his convictions or his oratory. Yet there must be some faculty in him which did not appear on the surface, some primitive grasp of realities in his understanding of men. Why should the influence of this sanguine, loud-talking demagogue, ...

— One Man in His Time • Ellen Glasgow

... stored in a house sheltered from the east wind which dries up the wood extremely, and a careful list should be kept of it. Wood for rafters is the better for being put into a tank and left there for four or five months. I may explain that stone posts (we use the literal translation from the Kanarese) are blocks of from 8 to 12 feet in length, which are raised by fire by an ingenious process. The natives first light fires on the slab of sheet rock they desire to operate ...

— Gold, Sport, And Coffee Planting In Mysore • Robert H. Elliot

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