as in historical
restricted to or based on fact
a literal account of the explorer's adventures is actually a lot less interesting than his own exaggerated stories
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Recent Examples of literal
Just hours earlier, the Spencer sisters—who are the daughters of Diana’s brother Charles Spencer—looked like literal works of art in coordinating metallic looks at Tuesday’s Gaurav Gupta Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026 show.
—
Lara Walsh, InStyle, 28 Jan. 2026
For Cuban, that grind is literal.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 28 Jan. 2026
Of course, that’s an extraordinary literal reading, perhaps one not warranted by such circuitous, exploratory music.
—Shaad D’souza, Pitchfork, 27 Jan. 2026
One is just literal scaffolding—a literal building.
—Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for literal
Lara Walsh, InStyle, 28 Jan. 2026
For Cuban, that grind is literal.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 28 Jan. 2026
Of course, that’s an extraordinary literal reading, perhaps one not warranted by such circuitous, exploratory music.
—Shaad D’souza, Pitchfork, 27 Jan. 2026
One is just literal scaffolding—a literal building.
—Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for literal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for literal
Adjective
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Young readers who can’t get enough historical fiction will want to check out this new adventure from beloved children’s novelist Avi.—
Caroline Carlson,
Literary Hub,
2 Feb. 2026
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The building was under the control of the Capone and Torrio families, as well as the Chicago Outfit, during the Prohibition era, according to historical accounts.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
2 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Buried is commissioned by Jack Bootle, head of commissioning for specialist factual and Nick Andrews, head of commissioning for BBC Cymru Wales.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Jan. 2026
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For decades, assessors across California have exercised reasonable and uniform judgment in applying it, guided by State Board of Equalization (BOE) advice, local building standards, and the factual circumstances of each rebuild.—
Jeffrey Prang,
Daily News,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Such should be true for tomorrow as well.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
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The app will bring to the fore true voices endorsed by the fanbases.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Their Eyes adopts the documentary mode and is narrated entirely by crowdworkers—specifically, annotators contracted to segment and label images to create training data for self-driving cars.—
Farren Fei Yuan,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
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The father of eight made the revelation to the Daily Mail while DJ'ing at a Sundance Film Festival event celebrating the documentary Side Effects May Include, by healthcare strategist Rachel Strauss.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
PEOPLE,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Significant experiment The effort is part of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, a nonfictional experiment with detectors that will be immersed in huge baths of cryogenic liquid argon, which is going the opposite direction — down.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Jan. 2026
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But what was more interesting to me are those who aren’t fantasizing about being in a fictional world, but who are fantasizing about being a different reader, in a more secure nonfictional world.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
13 Jan. 2026
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Literally
A word that (literally) drives people nuts
Cite this Entry
“Literal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/literal. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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