• tal@lemmy.today
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    5 months ago

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally

    literally

    (degree, figuratively, proscribed, contranym) Used non-literally as an intensifier for figurative statements: virtually, so to speak (often considered incorrect; see usage notes)

    Synonym: virtually

    He was so surprised, he literally jumped twenty feet in the air.

    I agree that it’s a goddamn obnoxious use of the word that is a recipe for ambiguity, but I think that the battle over this has been lost.