Adverb

(en adverb)

In a way which is certain; with certainty.

*, I.iii.2.2:

*:he verily thought he had young live frogs in his belly, qui vivebant ex alimento suo , that lived by his nourishment, and was so certainly persuaded of it, that for many years following he could not be rectified in his conceit.

Without doubt, surely.

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*:So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)

, volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.}}

An emphatic affirmative answer; of course.

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Adverb

(-)

(speech act) word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor

When I saw on the news that there would be no school tomorrow because of the snowstorm, I literally jumped for joy, and hit my head on the ceiling fan.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=May 24 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3 , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=Sequels to fish-out-of-water comedies make progressively less sense the longer a series continues. By the time Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles rolled around in 2001, 15 years after the first Crocodile Dundee became a surprise blockbuster, the title character had been given an awfully long time to grow acclimated to those kooky Americans. Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.}}

(degree, proscribed) used non-literally as an intensifier for figurative statements : virtually (often considered incorrect; see usage notes)

* 1827 , Sir Walter Scott, Chronicles of the Canongate

The house was literally electrified; and it was only from witnessing the effects of her genius that he could guess to what a pitch theatrical excellence could be carried.

* 1993 , , Real Magic , page 193:

You literally become the ball in a tennis match, you become the report that you are working on

* 2009 , :

- She took a giant shit on my face. Literally.

- Literally?

- Well, no, not literally . That's disgusting. What's wrong with you?

(colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner : just, merely.

You literally put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.