literalizev.
/ˈlɪt(ə)rəlʌɪz/, /ˈlɪt(ə)rl̩ʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈlɪdərəˌlaɪz/, /ˈlɪtrəˌlaɪz/ transitive. To make literal (in various senses); spec. to represent or accept as literal rather than metaphorical, allegorical, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > literal meaning > interpret literally [verb (transitive)]
literalize1703
pragmatize1831
1703 W. Freke Divine Gram. i. 22 What Things as well as Persons they [sc. the circumstances] will literalize, better appear when we come to the several Examples..following.
1760 V. Des Voeux Philos. & Crit. Ess. Ecclesiastes 353 I see no reason..why the latter part of the metaphor should be so literalized.
1827 Examiner 581/1 Ridicule is poorly employed in literalizing poetical allegory.
1853 G. S. Faber Diffic. Romanism (ed. 3) i. iv. 96 If we are to literalise the words of our Lord.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. 90 This disposition to literalize metaphors gave currency to the monkish stories.
1902 Catholic World Jan. 446 The common language of saints and ascetics,..perhaps consciously symbolic..in its first usage, but which has been inevitably literalized..upon the lips of the multitude.
2001 R. Holloway Doubts & Love iii. 37 Some people insist on historicising or literalising what were always meant to be metaphors.
Derivatives
ˈliteralizing n. and adj. (a) n.= literalization n. (b) adj. that literalizes.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > literal meaning > [adjective] > characterized by literalism
literalizing1826
literalistic1850
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > literal meaning > [noun] > quality > creation of
literalizing1826
1826 Classical Jrnl. 34 90 There is always in man a tendency to run from one extreme into another, as from literalizing to allegorizing.
1835 S. H. Cox in S. H. Cox Ministry we Need 102 Symbolical orthodoxy, with its..verbose and literalizing dogmatism.
1975 M. McCanles Dialectical Crit. & Renaissance Lit. ii. 108 This reversal of a snobbish relation between inner worth and outer show leads to a literalizing of metaphor.
2003 H. P. Santmire in N. Vest Tending the Holy iii. ix. 135 What is often referred to as his [sc. Francis of Assisi's] nature mysticism..flowed from his literalizing eschatology.
literaliˈzation n. the action or process of literalizing; an instance or the result of this.
ΚΠ
1836 Millennial Harbinger May 235 These ecclesiastic high courts are the stereotype literalization of what Paul meant by ‘making merchandize’ of the saints.
1907 G. Massey Anc. Egypt II. ix. 584 Such an interpretation is only an erroneous literalization of the legendary lore.
1998 Harper's Mag. July 26/1 Kafka's funniness depends on some kind of radical literalization of truths we tend to treat as metaphorical.
ˈliteralizer n. a person who literalizes something.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > representation > [noun] > one who or that which makes representations > exact
literalizer1825
literalist1862
1825 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1990) IV. 5270 The Literalizers of half a dozen metaphors addressed by the wide-hearted Christ-filled Apostle.
1895 Thinker Mag. 8 493 Ver. 14..does not help the literalizers at all.
2000 Guardian 9 Dec. i. 28/6 Despite the claims of the literalisers, the virgin-birth story was never anything more than the stuff of mythology.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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