irreal
/ɪˈɹiːəl/
irreal adjective: synonym of intangible, immaterial, not composed of things, having no concrete existence.
Adjective
irreal (comparative more irreal, superlative most irreal)
- Synonym of intangible, immaterial, not composed of things, having no concrete existence.
- Near-synonyms: preternatural, supernatural, ethereal, celestial
- 'Irreal' objects draw on our previous sensual experience but have never existed; they are created through the spontaneous intentional operations of the imagination.2012, T. Dant, Television and the Moral Imaginary: Society through the Small Screen, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- preternatural, supernatural, ethereal, celestial, intangible, immaterial, not composed of things, having no concrete existence
Synonyms of irreal
- preternatural
- supernatural
- ethereal
- celestial
- intangible
- immaterial
- not composed of things
- having no concrete existence
Forms of irreal
| comparative | more irreal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most irreal |
Origin of irreal
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.
Words formed from irreal
Questions about irreal
- What does irreal mean?
- Irreal means synonym of intangible, immaterial, not composed of things, having no concrete existence.
- What part of speech is irreal?
- Irreal is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce irreal?
- Irreal is pronounced /ɪˈɹiːəl/.
Words near irreal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: irreal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “irreal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/irreal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.