Irreal

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Synonym of intangible, immaterial, not composed of things, having no concrete existence.

    "'Irreal' objects draw on our previous sensual experience but have never existed; they are created through the spontaneous intentional operations of the imagination."

Example

More examples

"'Irreal' objects draw on our previous sensual experience but have never existed; they are created through the spontaneous intentional operations of the imagination."

Etymology

From Latin irrealis, from in- (“un-: not”) + reālis (“real, material, tangible, composed of physical things”), from res (“thing”) + -ālis (“-al: forming adjectives”). Doublet of irrealis.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.