literal

The literal translation is "hands full of bananas" but it means "empty-handed".

A literal reading of the law would prohibit it, but that is clearly not the intent.

It is most important to distinguish literalistic from literal interpretation. The former generates an unlettered, ultimately illiterate reading—one that is incapable of recognizing less obvious uses of language such as metaphor, satire, and so forth. ... Interpreters err either when they allegorize discourse that is intended to be taken literally or when they "literalize" discourse that is intended to be taken figuratively.

a literal equation

Telemarketers are the literal worst.