literally

Etymology

From literal + -ly.

adv

1. Word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor.
   Coordinate term: etymonically
   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.
   […] 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. May 24, 2012, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club
   As lawmakers and staff rushed out, aides snatched the boxes containing the Electoral College certificates, making sure that the vandals could not literally steal the results of the election. 2021-01-07, Luke Broadwater, Emily Cochrane, “Inside the Capitol, the Sound of the Mob Came First”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. (degree, figurative, proscribed, contranym) Used non-literally as an intensifier for figurative statements: virtually, so to speak (often considered incorrect; see usage notes)
   He was so surprised, he literally jumped twenty feet in the air.
   My daughter's pet rabbit had babies, and now we've literally got rabbits coming out of our ears.
   On 9/11 people were literally glued to their TV sets.
   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. 1827, Sir Walter Scott, “Appendix to Introduction”, in Chronicles of the Canongate, archived from the original on 2021-06-15
   You literally become the ball in a tennis match, you become the report that you are working on […] 1993, Wayne W. Dyer, Real Magic, page 193
   [O]ne can assume that the millions or billions of ringgit spent on the war against drugs have gone down the drain, literally. 22 April 2017, New Straits Times, Malaysia, page 20
3. (colloquial) Used to intensify or dramatize non-figurative statements.
   I had no idea, so I was literally guessing.
   I was literally having breakfast when she arrived.
   She was literally like, "What?", and I was literally like, "Yeah".
   Literally who is this?
   Pearl: Steven, we are not like the No Home Boys. We are literally standing in your home right now. 2015, “On the Run”, in Steven Universe
4. (colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner: just, merely.
   It's not even hard⁠ to make—you literally just put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.
   It won't take me long to get back, cause the store's literally two blocks away.