Definition of "literal"

literal

/ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/

adjective
comparative more literal, superlative most literal
1. Exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical, and etymonic rather than idiomatic.
  Quotations
  a middle course between the rigour of literal translations and the liberty of paraphrasts
  1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, (please specify the page)
  Mechanically, operating this hybrid vehicle is sort of a cross between driving a car and taming an animal, which means the movie treats the audience to the sight of a man (pretending to be a teenager) driving a literal monster truck in a field next to a woman (also pretending to be a teenager) riding a horse.
  2017 January 12, Jesse Hassenger, “A literal monster truck is far from the stupidest thing about Monster Trucks”, in The Onion AV Club‎
2. Following the letter or exact words; not free; not taking liberties
3. (theology) (broadly) That which generally assumes that the plainest reading of a given scripture is correct but which allows for metaphor where context indicates it; (specifically) following the historical-grammatical method of biblical interpretation
  Quotations
  It is most important to distinguish literalistic from literal interpretation. The former generates an unlettered, ultimately illiterate reading—one that is incapable of recognizing less obvious uses of language such as metaphor, satire, and so forth... Interpreters err either when they allegorize discourse that is intended to be taken literally or when they "literalize" discourse that is intended to be taken figuratively.
  1998, Kevin Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in this Text?, quoted on https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/13136/what-is-the-difference-between-a-literal-and-literalistic-interpretation-of
4. (uncommon) Consisting of, or expressed by, letters (of an alphabet)
5. (of a person) Unimaginative; matter-of-fact
6. (proscribed) Used non-literally as an intensifier; see literally for usage notes.
noun
plural literals
1. (epigraphy, typography) A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.
2. (programming) A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.
3. (logic) A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable.