Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Recently, and more originally, Bey has fought against the camera’s literalness — its insistence on showing what’s there — by trying to imagine precisely what isn’t there.

From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2021

Lewandowski’s similar point about Trump’s literalness offered this implication.

From Slate • Dec. 5, 2016

The director didn’t seem to trust his audience to take those seminal Christian events seriously unless he presented them with dogged literalness.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2016

To admit that the literalness of film might surpass the stimulus to the imagination of Austen’s language.

From New York Times • Jan. 7, 2016

Like Charles, he had stopped believing in the literalness of the Bible.

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman