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Dictionary definition for: Literal
1. (n) a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind
2. (s) being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something; "her actual motive" "a literal solitude like a desert"- G.K.Chesterton; "a genuine dilemma"
3. (s) without interpretation or embellishment; "a literal translation of the scene before him"
4. (a) limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text; "a literal translation"
5. (s) lacking stylistic embellishment; "a literal description" "wrote good but plain prose" "a plain unadorned account of the coronation" "a forthright unembellished style"
6. (s) of the clearest kind; usually used for emphasis; "it''s the literal truth" "a matter of investment, pure and simple"
7. (s) (of a translation) corresponding word for word with the original; "literal translation of the article" "an awkward word-for-word translation"
WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved.
