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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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You'll be upset to learn that literally is now defined as figuratively in some dictionaries.
Which robs it of all meaning and utility!
It literally doesn't; it is giving it even more meaning and utility.. Just use the context to know how it's being used.
Disagree. When a word means what it actually means, but also means the ~~opposite~~ inverse¹, then it doesn't mean anything. The whole point of using "literally" is to establish context, to distinguish an actual literal situation when the language used would otherwise be interpreted as figurative.
I'm generally not a prescriptivist, but I'll figuratively die on this hill. "Literally can mean figuratively" literally robs "literally" of its meaning.
¹ Edit: I should've been more precise, it was bugging me.
You wouldn't literally die on the hill? Doesn't sound like you're very committed. 😌
If it was literally a hill I would, but semantic integrity isn't actually a geological protuberance.
Except that in usage it's almost never unclear and the use of 'literally' in place of 'figuratively' adds emphasis. So if anything it adds meaning. "Literally born on the track" is a good example - the meaning is clearly 'figuratively'. And the image of popping out of the womb onto a running surface adds emphasis and humour.
Contronyms - words that can also mean their opposite - are just a phenomenon of language. Cleave is the common example. You can cleave to or cleave in two.