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Side note: because literally has been so often used to mean figuratively, literally is now acceptable to mean figuratively. They even updated the definition in
by ornornor 2y ago
Side note: because literally has been so often used to mean figuratively, literally is now acceptable to mean figuratively. They even updated the definition in the dictionary: the word now means literally AND its opposite.
- brabel 2y agoYep, the dictionary's job is to tell you how people are using language, not to tell people how to use words :). And don't people love to make a mess with words' meanings?!
- sapeint 2y agoLiterally has been used in that way for literally hundreds of years. From Charles Dickens ("He had literally feasted his eyes on the culprit.") and Charlotte Bronte ("Literally I was the apple of his eye"), to Mark Twain (in Adventures of Tom Sawyer) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (in The Great Gatsby) -- among others. This "Literally shouldn't be used figuratively" is a rather modern construct that was artificially created.
- bigstrat2003 2y agoNo, literally is not acceptable to use to mean figuratively. Those people are using the word wrong. The dictionaries acting like this is ok should be ashamed of themselves.