literalize

present singular third person literalizes · participle present literalizing · participle past literalized · past literalized · alternative literalise

1. To make literal or prosaic

   The band seemed at the start to literalize a mysterious piece of writing; its structure was clear when this band played it.

   2009 January 15, Ben Ratliff, “Club Jazz That Travels a Line Between Old Fashions and New Tastes”, in New York Times

   1 more example

   The popular "peephole" style of cover art, suggesting stolen glimpses into exotic interior territories at once psychological and geographical, literalized the voyeuristic appeal of early postwar paperback art.

   2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 7