literalism
noun
\
Definition of literalism
1 : adherence to the explicit substance of an idea or expression biblical literalism
2 : fidelity to observable fact : realism
Keep scrolling for more
Other Words from literalism
\
noun
\
adjective
Examples of literalism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Beyond the biblical literalism of allied evangelicals, newly sophisticated ways of attacking environmental sciences arose that appealed to doubt and uncertainty, coins of the scientific realm itself. — Christopher Sellers, Vox, "How Republicans came to embrace anti-environmentalism," 6 July 2018 The big- city journalists reported that Darrow had revealed Bryan’s ignorance and the absurdity of his biblical literalism. — Time Staff, Time, "The 25 Moments From American History That Matter Right Now," 28 June 2018 At that point, the allusions Aster has so tantalizingly built up disintegrate into graphic gore and on-the-nose literalism. — Ann Hornaday, kansascity, "In terrifying ‘Hereditary,’ past horrors haunt a dysfunctional family," 7 June 2018 John McDermott's sets and Les Dickert's lighting, while maintaining the minimalist aesthetic that keeps a cool distance from literalism, are colorful and sprightly. — Charles Mcnulty, latimes.com, "Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and Shaw's 'Saint Joan': A marathon for four actors, and the audience," 9 Apr. 2018 And both have been criticized by fundamentalist and other more conservative religious thinkers who accuse them of not hewing to the most stringently doctrinaire biblical literalism. — Alex Johnson, NBC News, "Billy Graham: A guidestar for preachers, as well as millions of followers," 2 Mar. 2018 Both rejected modernism in favor of Biblical literalism. — Sarah Jones, New Republic, "Billy Graham’s Circus Left Him Behind," 22 Feb. 2018 His cooking today forgoes some of its former literalism (those papas a la huancaina are gone) and instead centers on Peruvian cuisine’s core tenets. — Patric Kuh, Los Angeles Magazine, "The Food at Rosaliné Is Full of Heart (Yes, Literally) and You Need to Taste It," 29 Sep. 2017 As Colbert showed, Old Testament literalism makes for a nice belief system. — Jack Holmes, Esquire, "Just How Nuts Is Roy Moore? Let Stephen Colbert Explain.," 28 Sep. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'literalism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on literalism
What made you want to look up literalism? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Great Scrabble Words—A Quiz
-
- Which of the following Q-without-U words means the number five in cards or dice?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Share literalism
Resources for literalism