Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or based on a text: Pertaining to the written or printed words of a book, document, or other piece of writing, rather than to illustrations, context, or interpretation.
   • Concerned with the exact wording: Focusing on the precise words as they appear in the original source.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The professor's feedback was primarily textual, focusing on the specific word choices in the essay.
  • A textual analysis examines the language, structure, and themes within the writing itself.
  • The editor found a textual discrepancy between the manuscript and the first printed edition.

Advanced Usage

• "Textual criticism": The scholarly study and comparison of manuscripts or editions of a text to determine the most accurate original version.
  • Textual criticism of ancient scriptures involves comparing hundreds of manuscript fragments.
• "Textual evidence": Proof or support derived directly from the words of a text.
  • Her argument was compelling because it was backed by strong textual evidence from the novel.

Variants and Related Words

• Textually (adverb): In a way that relates to or is based on a text.
  • The two versions differ textually in several key passages.
• Intertextual (adjective): Relating to the connections between different texts.
  • The novel is rich with intertextual references to classical mythology.

Synonyms

• Verbatim: In exactly the same words as were used originally.
• Literal: Taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory.

Related Phrases

• Textual integrity: The coherence and unity of a text's meaning and structure.
  • Debates about the play's textual integrity have continued for decades.
• Textual variant: A difference in wording found in different copies or editions of the same text.
  • Scholars noted a significant textual variant in the poem's final line.

Adjective

1. of or relating to or based on a text
   • textual analysis