literal

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Like many autistic people, Haight’s mind interprets language in its most literal sense.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

“It is late for the literal, no?” he protests when the narrator presses him on biographical specifics.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

It’s weird to be alive at a time when much of contemporary warfare comprises literal laser beams, flying robots and dungeons full of nerds at computer terminals, but that’s really what’s happening.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026

Epstein is hardly the first rich American to pursue the literal eugenic, or “beautiful gene.”

From Slate • Mar. 19, 2026

There, at the climax of every show, he sits down in a comfortable chair to think — a chair known, of course, in the literal world of Blue’s Clues, as the Thinking Chair.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell