literalphoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticphonetic adjective
1. exactly the same as the original basic meaning of a word or expression
   The literal meaning of 'television' is 'seeing from a distance'.

This page is cited from Cambridge Dictionaries Online. For the original, please visit
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=literal*1+0