Literally Everything You'll Ever Need To Know About Semantic Bleaching

Many people complain about literally when it’s used in a way that seems, well, non-literal. This is because figurative use of the word (“I literally died laughing”) seems to contradict the word’s original meaning, as well as the meaning of the word’s Latin root, littera, which means “letter.”

'Semantic bleaching' is the reduction of the intensity of a word's meaning—as when 'very' (from the Latin 'verus,' "true") is used for emphasis, as in "there aren't very many stock photos of semantic bleaching in action."

At its core, the problem is that literally is a mushy adverb: if we remove it from our example and say “I died laughing,” the sentence is understood in precisely the same (non-literal) way—as hyperbole. Adding literally just adds emphasis; it’s not much more than salt in the stew because the burden of meaning is on the other words (“died laughing”).

This reduction of the intensity of a word’s meaning is called “semantic bleaching,” and it’s a linguistic phenomenon that is more common than most of us realize: when you say “Have a great day!” you don’t mean “Have a day that is large in spatial dimension,” and when you say “That movie was awesome” you probably don’t mean “That movie was expressive of awe or terror.” Both great and awesome (and fantastic, amazing, awful, and many others) have meanings that have become less intense—and less literal—over time. The only reason that we are so aware of the bleached meaning of literally is that the word has also fully retained its original meaning of “by the letter” or “actually.” Both meanings exist in frequent usage today.

Like literally, very and really retain their original meanings but have added another. Very came to English from the French spoken by the Norman invaders; the 13th-century word for “true” was verai, which compressed to vrai in modern French. The ultimate Latin root is verus, meaning “true.” We still use very to mean “truly” or “truthfully” (“the very best one,” “the very same story”), but it frequently conveys emphasis for which truth is neither particularly important nor in doubt (“you’re very welcome,” “the food isn’t very good”). It’s an intensifier—a word that colors another but that has little color itself.

The same is true of really: sometimes it means “in reality” (“they really are twins”) but it often confers simple emphasis (“I had a really great time”) or subjective judgment (“that’s a really good play”) that doesn’t depend on objective realness or reality. Ultimately originally meant “finally” or “at the end” (“they ultimately succeeded”) reflecting its Latin root ultimatus meaning “last” or “final,” but it now also often means “eventually” (“we ultimately agreed to the deal”). Actually originally meant “in act or in fact” (“I don’t know what actually happened”) but it is much weaker in meaning when it is used to emphasize that a statement is true or surprising (“we actually planned to leave early,” “the movie was actually pretty good”).

Sometimes it seems as though literally is held to an adverbial double standard: people question the validity of its use as an intensifier, but other words with similar patterns of use seem to pass without criticism. While it’s important to be careful about language use, it’s also important to acknowledge that language is flexible and words can have several different meanings.

Effective use of intensifiers means using them sparingly. Ultimately, it’s up to you.