Sample Sentences for

literally

grouped by contextual meaning

(editor-reviewed)

It's dirty money--literally and figuratively.

Bird nest soup is literally made from a bird's nest.

The computer has no common sense. It will interpret everything you tell it literally.

She thinks the creation story in the Bible is a literal description; while he thinks it is poetic.

TOO WEAK TO WALK OUT, HAVE LITERALLY BECOME TRAPPED IN THE WILD.  (source) Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, 1996

The Savage obeyed with a disconcerting literalness.  (source) Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932

It was so dark now we literally couldn't see ten steps ahead of us as we walked toward the woods.  (source) R. J. Palacio, Wonder, 2012

Some things happen in a literal way, Lily.  (source) Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, 2002

More generally, Fitzgerald's decision to part with dogged literalness can be justified by the effect he seeks to produce on the reader.†  (source) Homer, The Iliad, -850 B.C.

They take the Bible literally, you know.  (source) Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960

It was she who introduced her to the library in the first place and gave her the initial, even literal, window of opportunity.  (source) Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, 2005

Already the Bishop had observed in Indian life a strange literalness, often shocking and disconcerting.†  (source) Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop, 1927

It's literally going to change the face of the planet.  (source) Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park, 1993

I literally laughed my head off.

She was literally at death's door.

Literally everyone was there.

If something didn't move, they literally didn't see it.  (source) Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park, 1993

Ms. Queen Marie Antionette Lincoln literally filled a room when she entered it.  (source) Sharon M. Draper, Forged by Fire, 1997

Anyway, about five minutes after I got there, Henry and Savanna were standing next to me, literally hovering over me.  (source) R. J. Palacio, Wonder, 2012

The longer the interview goes on, the more my fury seems to rise to the surface, until I'm literally spitting out answers at him.  (source) Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, 2008

He imagined the girl reading in the shelter. He must have watched her literally handing out the words.  (source) Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, 2005

Our caste was just three away from the bottom. We were artists. And artists and classical musicians were only three steps up from dirt. Literally.  (source) Kiera Cass, The Selection, 2012

She who is usual so alert, have done literally nothing all the day.  (source) Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897

He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room.  (source) F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925

I'm literally starving.  (source) Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne Of Green Gables, 1908

This time, Colton literally skipped all the way to the CT scan lab.  (source) Todd Burpo, Heaven Is for Real, 2010

That app did a literal translation, so idioms like "drop by" didn't make any sense when translated.

The Great Wall (literally translated from Chinese as the "long wall") is indeed long.

The literal translation of the French vin aigre is "sour wine".

But you just use him to learn the literal meaning of the words; don't follow his explanations and interpretation.  (source) Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala, 2013

The Sherpa term for prayer flag is lung ta, which translates literally as "wind horse",  (source) Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air, 1997

Cesar blew the air hard out of his mouth and said, "Gallo, caballo y mujer, por la raza has de escoger." "That better mean 'I promise to be respectful to women,' " she stated. "Absolutely," he said, though the literal translation had something to do with comparing a woman to a horse and a rooster.  (source) W. William Winokur, The Perfect Game, 2008

Sang Real literally meant Royal Blood.  (source) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 2003

The literal translation of lokhay warkawal is "giving of a pot." ... Lokhay means not only providing care and shelter, it means an unbreakable commitment to defend that wounded man to the death.  (source) Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor, 2007

That place was Boca Raton, which, translated from the Spanish, means literally "Mouth of the Rat?"  (source) John Grogan, Marley & Me, 2005

Thus a literal translation of the name of this beautiful sheet of water, used by the tribe that dwelt on its banks, would be "The Tail of the Lake."  (source) James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, 1826

As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion, in those days, literally meant spouse.  (source) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 2003

Holy Grail is the literal meaning of Sangreal.  (source) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 2003

The root of your name, Sophie, is literally a 'word of wisdom.'  (source) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 2003

"Well," I said, nodding vaguely toward the steps that led us out of the Literal Heart of Jesus.  (source) John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 2012

The cast had rotated a bit down there in the Literal Heart of Jesus.  (source) John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 2012

Do you suppose you could find your way to the Literal Heart of Jesus around eight P.M.?  (source) John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 2012

"Don't swear in the Literal Heart of Jesus," Gus said.  (source) John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 2012

I'd almost made it all the way to the elevator when I saw his mom standing in a corner of the Literal Heart.  (source) John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 2012

When we first got there, I sat in the back of the visitation room, a little room of exposed stone walls off to the side of the sanctuary in the Literal Heart of Jesus church.  (source) John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 2012