I. ˈlid.ərəl, ˈlitər-, ˈli.trəl adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin litteralis, literalis, from Latin, of a letter, of writing, from littera, litera letter & litterae, literae epistle, writing + -alis -al — more at letter
1.
a. : according with the letter of the scriptures
amillennialists recognize the need for literal interpretation — Bibliotheca Sacra
b. : adhering to fact or to the ordinary construction or primary meaning of a term or expression : actual , obvious
the need for a literal breathing spell forces the fish to let go — L.P.Schultz
a literal solitude like a desert — G.K.Chesterton
liberty in the literal sense is impossible — B.N.Cardozo
reactionary in the literal sense of the word, but did not agree … how far back they wanted to go — William Peterson
c. : being without exaggeration or embellishment : plain , unadorned
literal prose
a love of literal truth — Robert Graves
d. : characterized by a concern mainly with facts : prosaic , unimaginative
the opposite of a liberal education … is a literal education — Sidney Hook
if a painter tells a story … even the most literal person will have no difficulty in understanding what the artist is trying to say — Huntington Hartford
statue … dressed as he had been when alive, in accordance with the literal standards of late-century monumental sculpture — J.T.Soby
a literal and academic reading of a classic score — Virgil Thomson
2.
a. : of, relating to, or expressed in letters
the distress signal SOS has no literal meaning
literal coefficient
cryptographic codes may be either literal or numerical
b. : resulting from the mistaken use or omission of a letter
literal error
3. : reproduced word for word : exact , verbatim
literal translation
II. noun
( -s )
: a small error usually of a single letter in writing or printing
in setting type, allow enough space so that a line will accommodate any literal the proofreader may find