literally
Often confused with figuratively
- 1Word for word, or in the exact, basic sense of the words, without exaggeration or figurative meaning.
The name Montenegro literally means "black mountain."
The idiom sounded strange because the subtitles translated it literally.
UsageCommon in take something literally, meaning understand it word for word: don't take it literally.
Similarexactly, precisely, verbatim, strictly
Oppositefiguratively, metaphorically, loosely
Note
Its most familiar home is the warning don't take it literally, said of someone prone to exaggeration. With numbers, as in literally millions, it insists the figure is a real count and not a flourish.
- 2Used informally for emphasis, even with statements not meant word for word, or simply to add drama to what is said.
The phone has been literally ringing off the hook since the ad aired.
We were literally glued to the screen for the entire final episode.
UsageMany readers object to this use, so in careful writing leave the word out; the sentence rarely loses anything.
Note
This is the use that draws objections, because the speaker means the opposite of word for word: jumped twenty feet in the air, glued to their TV sets. Some usage critics proscribe it for reversing the "not figuratively" meaning. It is not new, though. Sir Walter Scott's Chronicles of the Canongate (1827) reports that "the house was literally electrified."
- 3Really and not just as a figure of speech; used to show that an expression that is usually an idiom or metaphor is true in its exact sense, sometimes as a pun.
The team literally missed the boat; it sailed at noon, an hour before they reached the dock.
When she says her heart stopped, she means it literally: paramedics restarted it on the way to the hospital.
- 4Used as a generic downtoner meaning just or merely, playing down what is described.
Don't worry about the paperwork; it's literally one page.
The fix was literally a single line of code.
UsageUsually with just or a small amount, to reassure: literally just press it, literally one page.
Similarjust, merely, simply, only
Note
The downtoner makes something sound small, quick or easy rather than dramatic. That makes it the reverse of the dramatizing intensifier, though both belong to casual speech.
Practice
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Origin
Middle English already had "litteraly"; the word sits beside "literal" and "letter," and on the surface it is "literal" plus the suffix "-ly."