literal

1. 1.

   a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind

   Synonymsmisprinterratumtypographical errortypoliteral error

   Broadererror

Other forms of literal

plural

literals·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about literal

What does literal mean?

literal means "being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in literal?

literal has 3 syllables: lit-e-ral. The stress falls on "lit". In IPA it is /ˈlɪtɚəl/.

What is another word for literal?

Close synonyms include actual, genuine, real, misprint, erratum. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of literal?

The recorded antonyms are figurative.

Is literal a common word?

literal is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with literal?

1 word rhymes with literal. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.