Etymology
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literalism (n.)

"literal interpretation or understanding," 1640s, from French littéralisme; see literal + -ism. In art, "exact rendering or representation," shading toward "unimaginative exactness."

Entries linking to literalism

literal (adj.)
late 14c., "taking words in their natural meaning" (originally in reference to Scripture and opposed to mystical or allegorical), from Late Latin literalis/litteralis "of or belonging to letters or writing," from Latin litera/littera "letter, alphabetic sign; literature, books" (see letter (n.1)). Related: Literalness.

Meaning "of or pertaining to alphabetic letters" is from late 14c. Meaning "concerned with letters and learning, learned, scholarly" is from mid-15c. Sense of "verbally exact, according to the letter of verbal expression" is attested from 1590s, as is application to the primary sense of a word or passage. Literal-minded is attested from 1791.
-ism 
word-forming element making nouns implying a practice, system, doctrine, etc., from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus (source also of Italian, Spanish -ismo, Dutch, German -ismus), from Greek -ismos, noun ending signifying the practice or teaching of a thing, from the stem of verbs in -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached. For distinction of use, see -ity. The related Greek suffix -isma(t)- affects some forms.
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Definitions of literalism

literalism (n.)
the doctrine of realistic (literal) portrayal in art or literature;
literalism (n.)
a disposition to interpret statements in their literal sense;
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near literalism

-lite

lite

liter

literacy

literal

literalism

literalist

literality

literally

literary

literate

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