| English Dictionary |
NONLITERAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Dictionary entry overview: What does nonliteral mean?
• NONLITERAL (adjective)
The adjective NONLITERAL has 1 sense:
1. (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech
Familiarity information: NONLITERAL used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
(used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech
Synonyms:
figurative; nonliteral
Context example:
figurative language
Similar:
analogical (expressing, composed of, or based on an analogy)
extended (beyond the literal or primary sense)
metaphoric; metaphorical (expressing one thing in terms normally denoting another)
metonymic; metonymical (using the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated)
poetic (characterized by romantic imagery)
synecdochic; synecdochical (using the name of a part for that of the whole or the whole for the part; or the special for the general or the general for the special; or the material for the thing made of it)
tropical (characterized by or of the nature of a trope or tropes; changed from its literal sense)
Also:
rhetorical (given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"There are many good moccasin tracks along the trail of a straight arrow." (Native American proverb, Sioux)
"If you are saved from the lion, do not be greedy and hunt it." (Arabic proverb)
"Long live the headdress, because hats come and go." (Corsican proverb)