unreal
/ʌnˈɹi.əl/
unreal adjective: not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality.
Adjective
unreal (comparative more unreal, superlative most unreal)
- 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.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 212
- "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
- very impressive; amazing; unbelievable; incredible; larger or more fantastic than typical of real life.
- The video includes unreal footage of an eight-metre wave.
- I just had an unreal hamburger.
unreal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
unreal in Hindi
- not real
- अवास्तविक avāstavik
unreal in Tamil
- மெய்யல்லாத
unreal in Marathi
- an unreal or illusory image; phantom; apparition
- माया māyā
unreal in Urdu
- unreal
- مایی māyī
More languagesFewer languages
- unreal in Malayalam
- അയഥാർത്ഥ ayathāṟttha, മിഥ്യ mithya
- unreal in Kannada
- ನನಸಲ್ಲದ, ಅನಿಸಿಕೆಯ, ಸುಳ್ಳು, ಸತ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ದೂರವಾದ
- unreal in Odia
- ମିଛ micha
- unreal in Sanskrit
- असत् asat
Examples of unreal in a sentence
- "She just set me up" "Now that's unreal, man.1995, Sam Reaves, Get What's Coming, page 60:
- “Yeah, she does have a certain mental toughness that is unreal,” agreed Berto.2012, Thomas Maul, Manila Demon, page 102:
- He walks around and tries to pluck a flower on the ground. david exclaims, “Holy shit, this is unreal! i can feel the flower, the heat from the sun, and i can even hear the wind!2011, John Adrian Tomlin, The Imaginarium Machine, page 13:
Synonyms of unreal
Antonyms
Forms of unreal
| comparative | more unreal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unreal |
Origin of unreal
From un- + real.
Words formed from unreal
Words that rhyme with unreal
Questions about unreal
- What does unreal mean?
- Unreal means not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality.
- What is unreal in Hindi?
- Unreal in Hindi is अवास्तविक (avāstavik). See Unreal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use unreal in a sentence?
- "She just set me up" "Now that's unreal, man.
- What part of speech is unreal?
- Unreal is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce unreal?
- Unreal is pronounced /ʌnˈɹi.əl/.
Words near unreal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unreal (page history and authors); unreal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); माया (Marathi) (page history and authors); مایی (Urdu) (page history and authors); unreal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ମିଛ (Odia) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-unreal.wav.
Cite this entry: “unreal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unreal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.