literalize

American  

[lit-er-uh-lahyz] / ˈlɪt ər əˌlaɪz /

especially British, literalise

verb (used with object)

literalized, literalizing

1. to make literal; interpret literally.

---

Other Word Forms

• literalization noun
• literalizer noun
• unliteralized adjective

Etymology

Origin of literalize

First recorded in 1820–30; literal + -ize

Example Sentences

And as if to literalize this, the Light Phone III even has a small clickable wheel on one side that brightens or dims the screen, and engages a flashlight if depressed.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2025

Or to literalize the notion that, duh, relationships can be scary?

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2023

But even here — under a tangle of rope and lace, designed by Rajha Shakiry, that seems to literalize the World Wide Web — the argot of social media invades.

From New York Times • Jan. 13, 2023

Something about Knott froze in childhood, leaving a body of work marked by the child’s tendency to literalize imaginative schemes.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 27, 2017

An objection is sometimes made to the effect that we literalize these scriptures which are intended to be metaphorical and spiritual.

From The Great Doctrines of the Bible by Evans, William