noun, slang ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   a 20th century movement of artists and writers (developing out of dadaism) who used fantastic images and incongruous juxtapositions in order to represent unconscious thoughts and dreams wordnet
3. 3
   Art with a surreal aesthetic or narrative, regardless of whether or not it is linked to the surrealist movement. countable, informal, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

artstyle

Antonyms

All antonyms

reality

Example

More examples

"Informal diction is always full of mystery and surrealism."

Etymology

From French surréalisme. By surface analysis, sur- + realism or surreal + -ism.

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