Unreal
//ʌnˈɹi.əl// adj, slang
adj, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality.
"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."
- 2 very impressive; amazing; unbelievable; incredible; larger or more fantastic than typical of real life. informal
"The video includes unreal footage of an eight-metre wave."
Adjective
- 1 lacking material form or substance; unreal wordnet
- 2 contrived by art rather than nature wordnet
- 3 lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria wordnet
- 4 not actually such; being or seeming fanciful or imaginary wordnet
Example
More examples"Sometimes reality seems to me unreal."
Etymology
From un- + real.
Related phrases
More for "unreal"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.