literalize

especially British, lit·er·al·ise

[lit-er-uh-lahyz]

verb (used with object)

literalized, literalizing 

1. to make literal; interpret literally.

Other Word Forms

• literalization noun
• literalizer noun
• unliteralized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of literalize¹

First recorded in 1820–30; literal + -ize

Example Sentences

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

From Los Angeles Times

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

The weight of her anxieties come pouring down on her in a literalized form.

From New York Times

If anything, technological shifts — there’s discussion of the iPhone-shot “Tangerine,” and of “Leviathan,” in which, according to Cousins, the filmmakers literalized the concept of a fisheye lens by attaching cameras to fish — get short shrift.

From New York Times

The camera darts between the lovers’ angry, exhausted faces in a flurry of slamming edits and chin-severing closeups, as if to literalize the idea that something between them has broken.

From Los Angeles Times