literalist

lit·er·al·ism

L l

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [lit-er-uh-liz-uh m]
- /ˈlɪt ər əˌlɪz əm/
- /ˈlɪtərəlɪst /

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [lit-er-uh-liz-uh m]
- /ˈlɪt ər əˌlɪz əm/

Definitions of literalist word

noun literalist adherence to the exact letter or the literal sense, as in translation or interpretation: to interpret the law with uncompromising literalism. 1
noun literalist a peculiarity of expression resulting from this: The work is studded with these obtuse literalisms. 1
noun literalist exact representation or portrayal, without idealization, as in art or literature: a literalism more appropriate to journalism than to the novel. 1
noun literalist A person who adheres to the literal representation of a statement or law. 1
noun literalist A person who translates text literally. 0

See all 5 definitions of literalist

Information block about the term

Origin of literalist

First appearance:

before 1635

One of the 43% oldest English words

First recorded in 1635-45; literal + -ism

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Literalist

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Literalist

literalist popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 71% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

According to our data about 61% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

literalist usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer