How to Use literally in a Sentence
literally
adverb- The story he told was basically true, even if it wasn't literally true.
- He's a sailor who knows his ropes, literally and figuratively.
- Many words can be used both literally and figuratively.
- He took her comments literally.
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This quite literally might be the best Traeger grill sale for the rest of the year.
— John Thompson, Men's Health, 11 Oct. 2022 -
Here is a guy who literally begs to get punched in the face.
— John Semley, WIRED, 9 Oct. 2023 -
The course is owned by Trump and literally sits in the middle of the city of West Palm Beach.
— Donald J. Mihalek, ABC News, 17 Sep. 2024 -
The goal is to give the bulbs enough time to grow roots before the ground freezes and to literally chill out.
— Nicole Bradley, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Sep. 2022 -
Later in the footage, the walls start to close in… literally.
— Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 21 July 2022 -
And that’s a parcel that is literally one block from the park.
— Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 17 Jan. 2024 -
The medallion was literally our key to life on the ship.
— Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2024 -
My team has been working around-the-clock, literally around-the-clock.
— Jacob Bogage, Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2024 -
Jim Field Smith came up with the idea of the show, like literally a one- page pitch almost.
— K.j. Yossman, Variety, 4 Aug. 2023 -
The bar for the Blue Room Christmas tree is high — literally.
— Andrea Salcedo, Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2023 -
And his family, this is literally in the first pages of the book, gives up on him.
— CBS News, 7 Dec. 2022 -
But the biggest draws here is the Alpine Spa, literally.
— Carole Sovocool, Robb Report, 22 Dec. 2023 -
The origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West hopes to be, quite literally, movie magic.
— Matt Donnelly, Variety, 17 May 2024 -
So the phrase sort of came to me literally on a date, which is quite psychotic.
— Rose Eden, SPIN, 13 Feb. 2024 -
The idea that covers the most ground, literally, is a mantle plume.
— Phil Plait, Scientific American, 5 Jan. 2023 -
There have been literally hundreds of these, and the best ones were compiled on this record.
— Mia Hughes, SPIN, 30 Jan. 2023 -
But for Garner, the best part is literally the icing on the cake–er bar.
— Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 29 Sep. 2023 -
The beauty of the area around the ArtsPark is that there is something for literally every taste.
— Ben Crandell, Sun Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2022 -
The world is ablaze and people are literally dropping dead from the heat.
— Raven Smith, Vogue, 20 July 2022 -
This is literally the third largest mass shooting in the United States this year.
— Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press, 16 July 2024 -
For Church, getting the call to play the first edition in 2018 was literally life-changing.
— Brad Sanders, Chron, 3 Jan. 2023 -
And, of course, a phone or iPad cannot literally rot someone’s brain.
— Anna North, Vox, 5 Sep. 2024 -
But that just came about by literally just an open call.
— Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 6 Dec. 2024 -
Think of this as your Phoenix weather wrapped, complete with all the highs (literally) and lows (well, not so low) of 2024.
— Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 21 Dec. 2024 -
The struggle to keep them under control is literally what’s keeping them awake.
— Hannah Coates, Vogue, 8 Jan. 2025 -
That story was literally a thought plucked out of every Formula 1 fan’s head.
— Patrick Iversen, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'literally.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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