Sample Sentences for
literally
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

literally as in:  literally--not figuratively

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She wasn't literally advocating physical violence.
literally = using the most basic meaning of the words
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    It's dirty money--literally and figuratively.
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    Bird nest soup is literally made from a bird's nest.
    literally = actually (using the basic meaning of the words--not treating them as a figure of speech)
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    The computer has no common sense. It will interpret everything you tell it literally.
    literally = in manner that uses the basic meaning of words (without understanding metaphors, exaggerations, idioms, etc.)
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    She thinks the creation story in the Bible is a literal description; while he thinks it is poetic.
    literal = uses the basic meanings of words (not metaphors, allegories, symbolic use of language, etc.)
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    TOO WEAK TO WALK OUT, HAVE LITERALLY BECOME TRAPPED IN THE WILD.  (source)
    LITERALLY = actually (not an exaggeration)
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    The Savage obeyed with a disconcerting literalness.  (source)
    literalness = a quality of being actual--not figurative
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
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    It was so dark now we literally couldn't see ten steps ahead of us as we walked toward the woods.  (source)
    literally = actually (not an exaggeration)
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    Some things happen in a literal way, Lily.  (source)
    literal = actual (not figurative)
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    More generally, Fitzgerald's decision to part with dogged literalness can be justified by the effect he seeks to produce on the reader.†  (source)
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    They take the Bible literally, you know.  (source)
    literally = as true using the basic meaning of the words (not an exaggeration, metaphor, or other type of figurative speech)
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    It was she who introduced her to the library in the first place and gave her the initial, even literal, window of opportunity.  (source)
    literal = actual (not figurative)
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    Already the Bishop had observed in Indian life a strange literalness, often shocking and disconcerting.†  (source)
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    It's literally going to change the face of the planet.  (source)
    literally = actually (not figuratively; not an exaggeration)
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literally as in:  literally at death's door

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I literally feel like a prisoner in my own home.
literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
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    I literally laughed my head off.
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    She was literally at death's door.
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    Literally everyone was there.
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    If something didn't move, they literally didn't see it.  (source)
    literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
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    Ms. Queen Marie Antionette Lincoln literally filled a room when she entered it.  (source)
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    This time, Colton literally skipped all the way to the CT scan lab.  (source)
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    Anyway, about five minutes after I got there, Henry and Savanna were standing next to me, literally hovering over me.  (source)
    literally = so much it was like
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    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)
    literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
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    He imagined the girl reading in the shelter. He must have watched her literally handing out the words.  (source)
    literally = an intensifier (to intensify what follows)
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    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)
    Literally = an intensifier (to intensify what was just said)
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    Oh, and you no longer have a body that's literally deteriorating.  (source)
    literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
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    She who is usual so alert, have done literally nothing all the day.  (source)
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    He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room.  (source)
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literal as in:  a literal translation

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When translating English to another language, if you translate an expression like "What's up?" literally, it will completely confuse people learning the language.
literally = word for word
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    That app did a literal translation, so idioms like "drop by" didn't make any sense when translated.
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    The Great Wall (literally translated from Chinese as the "long wall") is indeed long.
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    The literal translation of the French vin aigre is "sour wine".
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    But you just use him to learn the literal meaning of the words; don't follow his explanations and interpretation.  (source)
    literal = word for word
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    The Sherpa term for prayer flag is lung ta, which translates literally as "wind horse",  (source)
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    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)
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    Sang Real literally meant Royal Blood.  (source)
    literally = in a manner that is word for word
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    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)
    literal = word for word
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    That place was Boca Raton, which, translated from the Spanish, means literally "Mouth of the Rat?"  (source)
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    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)
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    As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion, in those days, literally meant spouse.  (source)
    literally = in a manner that is word for word
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    Holy Grail is the literal meaning of Sangreal.  (source)
    literal = word for word
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    The root of your name, Sophie, is literally a 'word of wisdom.'  (source)
    literally = in a manner that is word for word
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meaning too rare to warrant focus

Show 3 with this contextual meaning
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    "Well," I said, nodding vaguely toward the steps that led us out of the Literal Heart of Jesus.  (source)
    Literal = actual (not figurative)
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    The cast had rotated a bit down there in the Literal Heart of Jesus.  (source)
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    Do you suppose you could find your way to the Literal Heart of Jesus around eight P.M.?  (source)
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    "Don't swear in the Literal Heart of Jesus," Gus said.  (source)
    Literal = actual (not figurative)
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    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)
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    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)
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