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Literal vs Meaning - What's the difference?

literal | meaning |

As adjectives the difference between literal and meaning

is that literal is exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical while meaning is having a (specified) intention.

As nouns the difference between literal and meaning

is that literal is (programming) a value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program while meaning is the symbolic value of something.

As a verb meaning is

.

literal

English

(wikipedia literal) (Webster 1913)

Alternative forms

* litteral (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical.
    • The literal translation is “hands full of bananas” but it means empty-handed.
  • * Hooker
    • a middle course between the rigour of literal translation and the liberty of paraphrasts
  • Following the letter or exact words; not free; not taking liberties.
    • A literal reading of the law would prohibit it, but that is clearly not the intent.
  • (uncommon) Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.
    • a literal equation
  • * Johnson
    • The literal notation of numbers was known to Europeans before the ciphers.
  • (of a person) Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of-fact.

    • Antonyms

    * (exactly as stated) figurative

    Related terms

    * letter * literacy * literary * literate * literature

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (programming) A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.
  • (logic) A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolution_%28logic%29]

    • See also

    * constant * prime formula

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    meaning

    English

    (wikipedia meaning)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) mening, menyng, equivalent to .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The symbolic value of something.
  • *
  • *:Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ ("I never) understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."
  • The significance of a thing.
  • :
  • (lb) The objects or concept that a word or phrase denotes, or that which a sentence says.
  • (lb) Intention.
  • *(rfdate) (Sir Walter Raleigh):
  • *:It was their meaning to take what they needed by stronghand.
    • Synonyms
    * sense, definition
    Hyponyms
    * proposition
    Derived terms
    * antimeaning * meaning of life * meaningful * meaningless * meaninglessly * meaninglessness

    Etymology 2

    From .

    Verb

    (head)
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having a (specified) intention.
  • Expressing some intention or significance; meaningful.
  • *1839 , (Edgar Allan Poe), ‘William Wilson’:
  • *:I might, to-day, have been a better, and thus a happier man, had I less frequently rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning whispers which I then but too cordially hated and too bitterly despised.

    • Anagrams

    *