Literal

/ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/

Synonyms for "literal" (203 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (41)

abecedarian accepted allographic alphabetic alphabetical approved arid authentic authoritative bare barren basicbona fideboring candid canonical capitalcard carryingcard-carrying christian

Show 12 more words

colorless concrete conventional correct customary denotative dictionary dinkumdown-to-earthdry dull earthbound

Adjective(7 words)

actualconcrete processcriminal statute textdenotative meaningdenotivedictionary sensedirect

Noun(2 words)

copy verbatimdirect quote

Strong matches (61)

Noun(6 words)

erratumexact wordingliteral errorliteralizing misprintmore actual

error essential etymological evangelical exact faithful firmfollowing the lettergenuine good graphemic honesthonest-to-godhumdrum ideographic inartificial infecund infertile lawful legalistic

Show 25 more words

legitimate lettered lexical lexigraphic lifelikeliteral mindedliteratim logogrammatic logographiclower caselower-case majusculematter-of-factminuscular minuscule mundane natural naturalistic objectiveof the faithoriginal orthodox orthodoxical pictographic precise

Adjective(10 words)

exactexact meaningfactual genuine legalisticliteral translationnonfigurative stylenoninterpretive readingnonsymbolic plain

Related words (101)

proper prosaic prosing prosy pure real realistic received right rightful rigid scriptural semanticsimon puresimon-pure simple simplistic sincere sound staid

Show 68 more words

standard sterling stolid strict stuffysure enoughsure-enough tedious textual traditional traditionalistic transliterated truetrue bluetrue to lifetrue to naturetrue to realitytrue-blue unadulterated unaffected unassumed unassuming unbiased uncial uncolored uncomplicated unconcocted uncopied uncounterfeited undisguised undisguising undistorted unembellished unexaggerated unfabricated unfanciful unfeigned unfeigning unfictitious unflattering unideal unimaginative unimagined unimitated uninspired uninvented uninventive unoriginal unpoetic unpoetical unprejudiced unpretended unpretending unqualified unromantic unromanticized unsimulated unspecious unsynthetic unvarnishedupper caseupper-case verbal verbatim veridical verisimilarword for wordword-for-word

Adjective(9 words)

purist real sticklerstrict readertrue unadorned verbatimverbatim translationword for word translation

Noun(4 words)

tax statute provisionstypotypographical errorverbal cue

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

7 relation types

More general

10 entries

adjective descriptor errorinterpretive stancelinguistic meaninglinguistic renderingmeaning mistake person translation

More specific

10 entries

denotative sensedirect statementexactlexical senseliteralistplain languageverbatimverbatim translationword for word readerword for word version

Collocations

7 entries

literal approachliteral interpretationliteral meaningliteral senseliteral textliteral translationliteral word

Inflections

3 entries

literalsmore literalmost literal

Derivations

7 entries

literalism literalist literalistic literality literalize literally literalness

Antonyms

1 entries

figurative

similar

6 entries

denotative exact explicit plain true unrhetorical

Sample sentences

18 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

I foolishly interpreted the idiom according to its literal sense.

Source: tatoeba (253258)

I took it in a literal sense.

Source: tatoeba (254845)

He explained the literal meaning of the phrase.

Source: tatoeba (290697)

He explained the literal meaning of the sentences.

Source: tatoeba (305848)

Showing 4 of 18 available sentences.

More for "literal"

Meaning

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