unreal

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ real.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ŭn-rēl', IPA^(key): /ʌnˈɹi.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːəl

Adjective

unreal (comparative more unreal, superlative most unreal)

1. Not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 212:

     The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life.

   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

2. (informal) very impressive; amazing; unbelievable; incredible; larger or more fantastic than typical of real life.

   The video includes unreal footage of an eight-metre wave.

   I just had an unreal hamburger.

   • 1990, Eurydice, F/32, page 205:

     He stops his cab at every traffic light, unrolls his window and calls out to the other drivers: "I've got a movie star in the car! Follow me down to see her come out. She is unreal, man! I am in seventh heaven! I have a dream!"

   • 1995, Sam Reaves, Get What's Coming, page 60:

     "She just set me up" "Now that's unreal, man. I mean, we're talking about a fairly considerable sum here, aren't we, Dexter?" "Listen to me. She set me up, with a dude she was cheatin' on me with

   • 2012, Thomas Maul, Manila Demon, page 102:

     “Yeah, she does have a certain mental toughness that is unreal,” agreed Berto. “I really don't think of her as a girl, I mean, it's like she's a tough buddy or tough sister to me.”

   • 2011, John Adrian Tomlin, The Imaginarium Machine, page 13:

     He walks around and tries to pluck a flower on the ground. david exclaims, “Holy shit, this is unreal! i can feel the flower, the heat from the sun, and i can even hear the wind! The smells are so vibrant! How could i possibly be smelling flowers?

Synonyms

• (not real): See also Thesaurus:fake or Thesaurus:insubstantial
• (very impressive): See also Thesaurus:awesome

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “not real”): real; See also Thesaurus:genuine

Derived terms

• unreal mode

 

Translations

not real

• Belarusian: нерэа́льны (njereálʹny), несапра́ўдны (njesapráŭdny)
• Bulgarian: нереа́лен (bg) (nereálen), недействи́телен (bg) (nedejstvítelen), въобража́ем (bg) (vǎobražáem)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不真實的／不真实的 (bù zhēnshí de)

• Czech: neskutečný (cs)
• Danish: uvirkelig
• Dutch: onwerkelijk (nl), irreëel (nl)
• Esperanto: nereala (eo)
• Estonian: ebatõeline
• Finnish: epätodellinen
• French: irréel (fr)
• Georgian: არარეალური (ararealuri), არანამდვილი (aranamdvili)
• German: unwirklich (de), irreal (de)
• Greek: ανύπαρκτος (el) (anýparktos), φανταστικός (el) (fantastikós)
• Hindi: अवास्तविक (avāstavik)
• Hungarian: nem valódi
• Icelandic: óraunverulegur (is), ímyndaður
• Italian: irreale (it)
• Japanese: 非現実的な (ja) (ひげんじつてきな, higenjitsuteki na)
• Korean: 비현실적(非現實的) (bihyeonsiljeok)
• Latvian: nereāls, ireāls
• Lithuanian: nerealus
• Macedonian: нереален (nerealen)
• Malayalam: അയഥാർത്ഥ (ayathāṟttha), മിഥ്യ (ml) (mithya)
• Maori: mariko
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uvirkelig

  Nynorsk: uverkeleg

• Polish: nierealny (pl), nierzeczywisty (pl), umowny (pl)
• Portuguese: irreal (pt)
• Romanian: nereal
• Russian: нереа́льный (ru) (nereálʹnyj), ненастоя́щий (ru) (nenastojáščij)
• Sanskrit: असत् (sa) (asat)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не̏реа̄лан, не̏ства̄ран

  Roman: nȅreālan (sh), nȅstvāran (sh)

• Slovak: neskutočný, nereálny
• Slovene: neresničen, nestvaren
• Spanish: irreal (es)
• Swedish: overklig (sv)
• Turkish: gerçek dışı (tr)
• Ukrainian: нереа́льний (nereálʹnyj), неспра́вжній (nesprávžnij)
• Welsh: afreal (cy)

Anagrams

• Launer, Lauren, neural, ulnare