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Home / What Is the Literal Meaning of the Word Dã©nouement

What Is the Literal Meaning of the Word Dã©nouement

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This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

literal

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

adjective

in accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of the word or words; not figurative or metaphorical: the literal meaning of a word.

following the words of the original very closely and exactly: a literal translation of Goethe.

true to fact; not exaggerated; actual or factual: a literal description of conditions.

being actually such, without exaggeration or inaccuracy: the literal extermination of a city.

(of persons) tending to construe words in the strict sense or in an unimaginative way; matter-of-fact; prosaic.

of or relating to the letters of the alphabet.

of the nature of letters.

expressed by letters.

affecting a letter or letters: a literal error.

noun

a typographical error, especially involving a single letter.

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Which of the following words describes "sky blue"?

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Origin of literal

1350–1400; Middle English <Late Latin litterālis "of letters." See letter1, -al1

OTHER WORDS FROM literal

lit·er·al·ness, noun non·lit·er·al, adjective non·lit·er·al·ly, adverb non·lit·er·al·ness, noun

o·ver·lit·er·al, adjective un·lit·er·al, adjective un·lit·er·al·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH literal

literal , littoral

Words nearby literal

liter, literacy, literacy hour, literacy test, literae humaniores, literal, literalism, literality, literalize, literally, literal-minded

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to literal

accurate, actual, authentic, true, unvarnished, close, faithful, gospel, natural, ordinary, plain, simple, apparent, bona fide, critical, genuine, methodical, scrupulous, strict, to the letter

How to use literal in a sentence

  • Stigma, in other words, consists of the act of branding, which, in the case of enslavement, could be literal.

  • The literal meaning of "chakra" is "wheel," and Chandrasekar's striking chakra paintings, each keyed to a single color, revolve around a central axis.

  • So when you're a 22-year-old American and all of a sudden you have an opportunity to see dead bodies in the literal flesh, every day, that's a wonderful opportunity.

  • Green shoots for the economy can go hand in hand with literal green shoots.

  • From the land to the air to the sea, the terrain—both literal and psychological—these folks navigate can be tough.

  • I never hear a Democrat talk about these goods, which are, in the literal sense, indivisible—for us all.

  • So is the literal "turkey point of view" offered by the GoPros attached to the turkeys as they run around the coop.

  • "The amount of literal brainwork needed to do his job too such a toll on him that it sent him to an early grave," Goode says.

  • What they will do is bring government into the bedroom in a far more literal way than the most aggressive anti-abortion laws.

  • "Air refueling and airlift assets were the literal pinch I am describing here," the official said.

  • Sometimes it comes in literal sobriety, sometimes in derisive travesti, sometimes in tragic aggravation.

  • In a literal sense, too," added Tom Brown, "for it will be sold as waste-paper and be made up into matches.

  • It would be impossible to find two figures more life-like, more literal, or painted with greater sincerity.

  • "But, in the sense I mean, may have a very literal and terrible significance," pursued Dr. Silence.

  • According to the literal meaning, it would seem that the Laird of Brodie was something less than a gentleman?

British Dictionary definitions for literal

adjective

in exact accordance with or limited to the primary or explicit meaning of a word or text

word for word

dull, factual, or prosaic

consisting of, concerning, or indicated by letters

true; actual

maths containing or using coefficients and constants represented by letters: ax² + b is a literal expression Compare numerical (def. 3a)

noun

Also called: literal error a misprint or misspelling in a text

Derived forms of literal

literalness or literality (ˌlɪtəˈrælɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin for literal

C14: from Late Latin litterālis concerning letters, from Latin littera letter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

What Is the Literal Meaning of the Word Dã©nouement

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/literal