Overliterally
adv ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 In an overliteral way. not-comparable
"The Roman Catholic doctrine, "outside the church, no salvation," has been the subject of many a theological treatise, and has wrecked the mood in advance of many an auspicious American interfaith gathering. Catholic theologians explain that it must not be overliterally interpreted. Non-Catholic Christians, they say, if "invincibly ignorant" that Catholicism is the only way to salvation, can save themselves by leading good lives; for this makes them, whether they know it or not, Catholics "by desire.""
Example
More examples"The Roman Catholic doctrine, "outside the church, no salvation," has been the subject of many a theological treatise, and has wrecked the mood in advance of many an auspicious American interfaith gathering. Catholic theologians explain that it must not be overliterally interpreted. Non-Catholic Christians, they say, if "invincibly ignorant" that Catholicism is the only way to salvation, can save themselves by leading good lives; for this makes them, whether they know it or not, Catholics "by desire.""
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.