Meaning & use
unreal
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Seeming strange or imaginary, as if it were part of a dream rather than real life.
Grammar: Works before a noun or after a verb: an unreal silence, or the scene felt unreal.
Patterns
- feel unreal
- seem unreal
Standing on the empty stage felt unreal.
The snow-covered town had an unreal, quiet beauty.
It all seemed so unreal that I kept checking my phone.
adjectiveafter a verbinformalslang
Amazing, extremely good or hard to believe, used in casual speech.
Grammar: Normally comes after be: that goal was unreal. It can also show shock, good or bad.
Patterns
- be unreal
That concert was unreal, honestly the best night of my life.
Her speed on the track is unreal.
The traffic today is unreal; it took three hours.
adjectivebefore a noun
Not based on facts or what could actually happen; not realistic.
Grammar: Usually goes before the noun: unreal expectations.
The advertisement set unreal expectations for beauty.
They were living in an unreal world of easy money.
Such unreal goals can only lead to disappointment.
Word forms
| comparative | more unreal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unreal |
Common combinations
- feel unreal
- After the news, everything felt unreal.
- seem unreal
- Winning the lottery still seems unreal.
- unreal atmosphere
- An unreal atmosphere hung over the empty stadium.
- unreal beauty
- The lake had an unreal beauty at dawn.
- totally unreal
- Her cooking is totally unreal.
Synonyms and how they differ
- surreal
- It suggests a dreamlike strangeness, as in a surreal painting, and is more descriptive than unreal.
- imaginary
- It means existing only in the mind, with no sense of strange feeling.
- incredible
- It is the standard word for amazing, and unreal is a more casual, slangier choice.
- fantastical
- It means odd and imaginative, as in a fairy tale.
Opposites
Word family
- unreality noun
- the state of seeming not real
- real adjective
- actually existing
- reality noun
- the way things actually are
- unrealistic adjective
- not sensible or achievable
Commonly confused: unreal or unrealistic?
unreal vs unrealistic
Unrealistic means not practical or sensible, such as a goal, while unreal describes how strange or amazing something feels.
Practice
Which sentence uses unreal in its informal sense of amazing?
Choose one answer.
Only the second sentence uses unreal as casual praise. The first describes something imaginary, and the other two use it incorrectly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unreal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.