word-for-word
Letter by letter
Word-for-word describes an exact repetition or translation that preserves every word: a word-for-word transcript of the interview, She repeated his instructions word-for-word.
The phrase emphasizes precision over paraphrase—nothing added, nothing omitted, nothing changed.
A word-for-word translation prioritizes literal accuracy, sometimes at the expense of natural phrasing in the target language.
Meaning exactly what's said
- verbatimIn identical wording
- interlinearBetween lines of text
- cribSmall bed with rails
- ponyCompact equine breed
trot · gloss · calque · loanword · cognate · metaphrase · back-translation · fidelity
literal
Meaning exactly what's said
- verbatimIn identical wording
- interlinearBetween lines of text
- cribSmall bed with rails
pony · trot · gloss · calque · loanword · cognate · metaphrase · back-translation · fidelity · equivalence
- literalismliteralism, plain meaning, verbatim, surface meaning, denotation
- literal translationsverbatim, direct translation, metaphrase
- translationtranslator, literal translation, literary translation, free translation, French translation
- translation errorsfalse friends, literal translation, garble, calque, false friend
- translation termstranslation, literal translation, free translation, source text, source language
- QuranQuran, Koran, surah, surahs, sura
word-for-wordparaphrased
Restated using different words
summarized · abridged · condensed · gist · in essence
word-for-wordfree translation
Non-literal language conversion
sense-for-sense · dynamic equivalence · idiomatic · loose translation · localized