how to pronounce literal

/ˈlɪtɚəl/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of literal is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

literal is pronounced in three syllables

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1.

2.

3. example pitch curve for pronunciation of literal

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video examples of literal pronunciation

An example use of literal in a speech by a native speaker of american english:

“… crap all over not literal crap we still …”

meanings of literal

adjective:

Following the letter or exact words; not free; not taking liberties.
Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of-fact.
Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.
Exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical.
Used non-literally as an intensifier; see literally for usage notes.

noun:

A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.
A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.
A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable. ^Wp.

literal frequency in english - C1 level of CEFR

the word literal occurs in english on average 8 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for C1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.

topics literal can be related to

it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that literal can be often used in the following areas:

1) communication, information, and media;

2) people, society, and culture;