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Literally vs Verbal - What's the difference?

literally | verbal |

As an adverb literally

is word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor.

As an adjective verbal is

of or relating to words.

As a noun verbal is

a verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.

As a verb verbal is

to induce into fabricating a confession.

literally

English

Alternative forms

* litterally (obsolete)

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.

    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) virtually

    Antonyms

    * (not metaphorically) figuratively, metaphorically, virtually

    verbal

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of or relating to words.
  • Concerned with the words, rather than the substance of a text.
  • Consisting of words only.
  • * Mayhew
    • We subjoin an engraving which will give the reader a far better notion of the structure than any verbal description could convey to the mind.
  • Expressly spoken rather than written.
    • a verbal''' contract; '''verbal testimony
  • (grammar) Derived from, or having the nature of a verb.
  • (grammar) Used to form a verb.
  • Capable of speech.
  • * 2005 , Avril V. Brereton, Bruce J. Tonge, Pre-schoolers with autism (page 55)
    • How do these language problems affect the behaviour of verbal children?
  • Word for word; literal; verbatim.
    • a verbal translation
  • (obsolete) Abounding with words; verbose.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (of or relating to words) wordish

    Antonyms

    * (consisting of words only) non-verbal, substantive * (expressly spoken or written) implied * (expressly stated) unsaid * (capable of speech) preverbal

    Related terms

    * verbalism * verbality

    Derived terms

    * verbal complement * verbal diarrhoea * verbal noun * verbal regency * verbal warning

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (grammar) A verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.

    • Synonyms

    * non-finite verb

    Verb

  • (transitive, British, Australia) To induce into fabricating a confession.
  • * 1982 , John A. Andrews, Human Rights in Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Study , ISBN 9024725526, BRILL, page 128:
    • "The problem of 'verballing' is unlikely to disappear, whatever the legal status of the person detained."
  • * 2001 , Chris Cunneen, Conflict, Politics and Crime: Aboriginal Communities and the Police , ISBN 1864487194, Allen & Unwin, page 116:
    • "Condren had always claimed that he was assaulted and verballed by police over the murder he had supposedly confessed to committing."
  • * 2004 , Jeremy Gans & Andrew Palmer, Australian Principles of Evidence , ISBN 1876905123, Routledge Cavendish, page 504:
    • "Moreover, given the risk of verballing , it is by no means apparent that it is in the interests of justice that the prosecution have the benefit of admissions that are made on occasions when recordings are impracticable."
    English transitive verbs ----