as in accurately
in a literal, true, or accurate way
She is not one for hyperbole—all of her warnings should be taken literally. The employees took the CEO's remarks literally and rightfully worried about the future health of the company.
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Recent Examples of literally
That was literally my dream come true.
—
Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025
Andrews' star status was cemented — literally — at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979.
—Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
All in a day’s work… literally!
—Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2025
There is a lot of force on this tendon literally millions of cycles a year.
—Harlan Selesnick, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for literally
Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025
Andrews' star status was cemented — literally — at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979.
—Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
All in a day’s work… literally!
—Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2025
There is a lot of force on this tendon literally millions of cycles a year.
—Harlan Selesnick, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for literally
Recent Examples of Synonyms for literally
Adverb
-
The Shani doll line was designed by Kitty Black Perkins and originally debuted in 1991 in response to claims that Barbie dolls lacked diversity and did not accurately represent Black people.—
Joe Otterson,
Variety,
1 Oct. 2025
-
For the smooth motion, the controller accurately tracked the robot’s centre of mass in the horizontal plane and maintained orientation, with only a small steady-state offset in vertical position.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
The probability of lightning strikes rises as a thunderstorm approaches and peaks when the storm is directly above.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
4 Oct. 2025
-
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
4 Oct. 2025
Video
Literally
A word that (literally) drives people nuts
Cite this Entry
“Literally.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/literally. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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