real

Adjective

real (comparative realer or more real, superlative realest or most real)

1. True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
   • City hall has its place, but this pub is the real heart of the town.
   • [T]he real reason he didn't come was because he was scared of flying[.]2007, Jim Kokoris, The Rich Part of Life: A Novel, →ISBN, page 179
2. Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
   • This is real leather.
   • An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)

   Synonyms:

   authentic, genuine, actual

3. Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
   • These are real tears!
   • Whose perfection farr excell’d Hers in all real dignitie1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
4. Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
   • a description of real life
   • I waked, and found / Before mine eyes all real, as the dream / Had lively shadowed.1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
5. That has objective, physical existence.
   • No one has ever seen a real unicorn.

   Synonyms:

   actual

6. Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).
   • My dad calculated my family's real consumption per month.
   • What is the real GNP of this polity?
7. Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
8. Being either a rational number, or the limit of a convergent infinite sequence of rational numbers: being one of a set of numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line.
9. Relating to immovable tangible property.
   • real estate; real property
   • Many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Cunning”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
10. Absolute, complete, utter.
    • This is a real problem.
11. (slang) Signifying meritorious qualities or actions, especially with regard to genuineness, groundedness, and true success rather than poser imitations of success.
    • I'm keeping it real.
    1. (slang) Firm through directness, readiness to confront.
       • yo, Imma be real with u... don't ever text me again

Adverb

real (not comparable)

1. (US, colloquial) Really; very.
   • When I told him the truth, he got real mad.
   • Se looked at me real strange.

Noun (1)

real (plural reals)

1. A commodity; see realty.
2. One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
3. A real number.
   • There have been several classical constructions of the reals that avoid these problems, the most famous ones being Dedekind Cuts and Cauchy Sequences, named respectively for the mathematicians Richard Dedekind (1831 - 1916) and Augustine Cauchy (1789 - 1857). We will not discuss these constructions...2007, Mark Bridges, REAL ANALYSIS: A Constructive Approach, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, page 11
4. (obsolete) A realist.
   • Scotists, Thomists, Reals, Nominals1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC

Noun (2)

UK/ɹeɪˈɑːl/US/ɹeɪˈɑl/

real (plural reals or reales)

1. Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies.
2. A coin worth one real.

Noun (3)

UK/ɹeɪˈɑːl/US/ɹeɪˈɑl/

real (plural reis or réis or reals)

1. A unit of currency used in Portugal and its colonies from 1430 until 1911, and in Brazil from 1790 until 1942.

   Synonyms:

   rei

2. (countable) A coin worth one real.

Noun (4)

UK/ɹeɪˈɑːl/US/ɹeɪˈɑl/

real (plural reais or reals)

1. A unit of currency used in Brazil since 1994. Symbol: R$.
   • Within weeks of this bombshell, an aide to the brother of the chairman of the PT, José Genoino, was arrested boarding a flight with 200,000 reais in a suitcase and $100,000 in his underpants.2011, Perry Anderson, “Lula's Brazil”, in London Review of Books, 33.VII
2. (countable) A coin worth one real.

Proper noun capitalized: Real

Real

1. Real Madrid, a football club from Madrid.
2. A surname.
3. A municipality of the province of Quezon, Philippines.