literally

In a literal manner; exactly as stated, word for word.; Without overstatement or understatement, or false or misleading words.

• He's prone to exaggeration, so don't take what he says literally.
• There are literally millions of individual pieces of space debris orbiting Earth.

In a literal manner; exactly as stated, word for word.; With phrasings that might normally be used or understood as figurative: truly; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor.

• When I saw on the news that there would be no school tomorrow because of the snowstorm, I literally jumped for joy, and hit my head on the ceiling fan.
• I didn't have time to repair the wall, so I literally just papered over the cracks.

In a literal manner; exactly as stated, word for word.; Draws attention to a pun or other wordplay involving an idiom.

• My daughter's pet rabbit had babies, and now we've literally got rabbits coming out of our ears.

As an intensifier.; Used as a general intensifier or dramatiser, sometimes tending towards a meaningless filler.colloquial

• I had no idea, so I was literally guessing.
• I was literally having breakfast when she arrived.

As an intensifier.; Used as an intensifier with statements or terms that are in fact meant figuratively and not word for word as stated.proscribedsometimes

• He was so surprised, he literally jumped twenty feet in the air.
• On 9/11 people were literally glued to their TV sets.

Used as a generic downtoner: just, merely.colloquial

• It's not even hard⁠ to make—you literally just put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.
• It won't take me long to get back, 'cause the store's literally two blocks away.