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.