adj.
- taking words in their usual or most basic sense; not figurative.
▸
informal absolute:
fifteen years of literal hell.
- (of a translation) representing the exact words of the original text.
▸free from distortion.
- lacking imagination.
- of, in, or expressed by a letter of the alphabet.
n.
Brit. Printing a misprint of a letter.
Derivative
- literality n.
- literalize
or literalise v. - literalness n.
Etymology
ME: from OFr., or from late L. litteralis, from L. littera (see letter).