Literally vs Physical - What's the difference?
literally | physical |
(speech act) word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=May 24
, author=Nathan Rabin
, title=Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3
, work=The Onion AV Club
(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
* 1993 , , Real Magic , page 193:
* 2009 , :
(colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner : just, merely.
Having to do with the body.
Having to do with the material world.
* John Stuart Mill
* Macaulay
* {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
Involving bodily force.
Having to do with physics.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01, author=Michael Riordan, title=Tackling Infinity
, volume=100, issue=1, page=86, magazine=(American Scientist)
(label)
(obsolete) Relating to physic, or medicine; medicinal; curative; also, cathartic; purgative.
* Sir T. North
* Shakespeare
As an adverb literally
is word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor.As an adjective physical is
having to do with the body.As a noun physical is
physical examination.literally
English
Alternative forms
* litterally (obsolete)Adverb
(-)- 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.
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.}}
- 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.
- You literally become the ball in a tennis match, you become the report that you are working on
- - She took a giant shit on my face. Literally.
- - Literally?
- - Well, no, not literally . That's disgusting. What's wrong with you?
- You literally put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.
Usage notes
"Literally" is the opposite of "figuratively", so many authorities object to the use of literally'' as an intensifier for figurative statements. For example "you literally become the ball", by the primary sense, would mean actually transforming into a spherical object, but the speaker is using ''literally as an intensifier. However, this type of usage is common in informal speech ("she was literally in floods of tears") and has a history of use in written English going back to at least 1827.Quotations
* (English Citations of "literally")Synonyms
* (not metaphorically) actually, really * (as an intensifier) virtuallyAntonyms
* (not metaphorically) figuratively, metaphorically, virtuallyphysical
English
(wikipedia physical)Adjective
(en adjective)- Labour, in the physical world, is employed in putting objects in motion.
- A society sunk in ignorance, and ruled by mere physical force.
citation, passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.}}
citation, passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.}}
- Physical herbs.
- Is Brutus sick? and is it physical / To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours / Of the dank morning?