real

1 of 5

adjective

re·al ˈrē(-ə)l

Synonyms of real next

: having objective independent existence

unable to believe that what he saw was real

: not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory : genuine

real gold

also : being precisely what the name implies

a real professional

c(1)

: occurring or existing in actuality

saw a real live celebrity

a story of real life

(2)

: of or relating to practical or everyday concerns or activities

left school to live in the real world

(3)

: behaving or presented in a way that feels true, honest, or familiar and without pretension or affectation

… That was the tragedy of Nurse Jackie … Great nurse. Flawed human being, and an irreparable one. That's also what made her real, and relatable, and what Falco brought so fully to the role …—

Verne Gay

On the afternoon of May 28, resident Rick Grant told The Enterprise as he waited with other grievers in the town hall's town-board room for his turn before a board, "We all want the same thing: Be real on the taxes, do a proper assessment, a fair assessment."—

The Altamont Enterprise

For every follower of the PEANUTS comics knows about the Little Red-Haired Girl, the character who intrigues a shy Charlie Brown. Hem he does, and haw he will, and every reader fidgets, too, knowing that such moments are utterly human and all too real.—

Alysia Gray-Painter

We're living through strange times in America, but that hasn't stopped Chrissy Teigen from being her wonderfully authentic self on social media—from showing up to husband John Legend's Instagram Live concert in a towel to sharing some real talk about childbirth.—

Abby Gardner

Coach Tucker has always just kept it real with me from the start. … He's been one of the most honest coaches. He's not about the B.S., hype and all that.—

Kameron Allen

"The thing that makes college basketball so fascinating to me is that almost everyone's a hair away from the dream …. And, let's keep it real, a lot of them are in school just for the experience needed to get to the next level."—

LL Cool J

Do you actually think you left popularity contests behind in high school? Please, get real.—

Jillian Mackenzie

(4)

: existing as a physical entity and having properties that deviate from an ideal, law, or standard

a real gas

compare ideal sense 1b

: complete, utter

a real fiasco

: fundamental, essential

: measured by purchasing power

real income

real dollars

g(1)

: belonging to or having elements or components that belong to the set of real numbers

the real roots of an equation

a real matrix

(2)

: concerned with or containing real numbers

real analysis

(3)

: real-valued

real variable

: of or relating to fixed, permanent, or immovable things (such as lands or tenements)

real property

of a particle : capable of being detected compare virtual sense 4

realness noun

real

2 of 5

adverb

chiefly US, informal

: very, really

—used as an intensifier

It was a good furnace all last winter, they didn't have a single problem with it: it ran real quiet …—

Garrison Keillor

… the magazine isn't real sure who its readers are …—

Tom Carson

real

3 of 5

noun (1)

: a real thing

especially : a mathematically real quantity

real

4 of 5

noun (2)

re·al rā-ˈäl

plural reais ˈrāsh

ˈrās,

ˈrāzh,

ˈrāz

or reis also reals : the basic monetary unit of Brazil see Money Table

plural reales or reis ˈrāsh

ˈrās,

ˈrāzh,

ˈrāz

: a former monetary unit and coin of Portugal

real

5 of 5

noun (3)

re·al rā-ˈäl

plural reales rā-ˈä-(ˌ)lās

or reals

: a former monetary unit and coin of Spain and its possessions

Phrases

for real

: genuine

couldn't believe the threats were for real

: genuinely good or capable of success (as in competition)

not yet sure if this team is for real

: in earnest : seriously

fighting for real

Examples of real in a Sentence

Adjective The movie is based on real events. The detective Sherlock Holmes is not a real person. He has no real power; he is just a figurehead. The battle scenes in the movie seemed very real to me. The team has a real chance at winning. There is a very real possibility that we will be moving to Maine. In real life, relationships are not perfect. The actor looks taller on TV than he does in real life. He's always daydreaming and seems to be out of touch with the real world. What is his real name? Adverb We had a real good time. The water is real warm. We went to bed real late.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The first lady meets with Princess Pale Moon (Jen Olivares, playing the real life, public personality who sang the national anthem at Republican national conventions) and feuds with Regan (Derek Garza). —

Celia Wren, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024 Biggie, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, died in the arms of one of Combs' bodyguards. —

Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 9 Apr. 2024 Yet, the Chargers drafting an offensive lineman with their first pick later this month remains a real possibility. —

Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024 Louis Tomlinson just got real about those Harry Styles conspiracy theories, which have been following both stars since their days in One Direction. —

Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 9 Apr. 2024 So for those of us torn between watching the sun get blotted out and getting blotto keeping our attention on a particularly good rock show, this exercise in multi-tasking was a real contest of self-will. —

Chris Willman, Variety, 9 Apr. 2024 This imagined America is studded with names borrowed from the real one: St. Louis might be a mere backwater, but T. S. Eliot is still among its locals. —

The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024 By addressing this issue with real vigor, candidates can signal a meaningful commitment to disabled voters. —

Andrew Pulrang, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024 Even as subsequent generations grapple with the increasingly digital nature of friendships (is a follower a friend?), our cultural narrative comes down hard on the belief that real friends are friends forever. —

Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024

Adverb

In each episode, a celebrity panel will try to identify the real married couple from the ones who are flat-out lying – and, in fact, have just met for the very first time on that same day. —

John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024 The organization plans to distribute the tools among journalists and fact-checkers, as well as anyone else trying to discern real from fake online in the lead-up to the election. —

Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024 Don’t worry — even advanced software still has trouble telling real from fake. —

Joella Carman, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2024 So there was a real active intention to recreate that Riviera. —

Alex Apatoff, Peoplemag, 20 Mar. 2024 Generative artificial intelligence might be driving the markets and forcing businesses to prepare for a new potential future, but the CEO of OpenAI isn’t real impressed about where the technology stands at the moment. —

Chris Morris, Fortune, 19 Mar. 2024 Behind her bands of flowers variously real or stylized or morphing into decorative objects, a veritable sketch of the Secession-Werkstätte achievement. —

Roberta Smith, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2024 Nevertheless, the intrusions from passing players, often intent on killing Sam or Mark or each other, and non-player characters (NPCs) seem real enough — and heaven knows dramatic recreations are rampant these days in documentaries, there to fill out the bits the camera could never have captured. —

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024 What’s more, the fact that the games are super neatly categorized and organized further makes finding your favorite games real easy. —

Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024

Noun

And researchers are exploring additional ways of separating the real from the fake. —

Tiffany Hsu, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024 Only a handful of operators worldwide, however, have the expertise, clout and ambition to make the unimaginable real. —

The Editors, Robb Report, 13 Mar. 2024 Is all of that real or is everyone seeing things in these long winter nights? —

Lauren Huff, EW.com, 14 Jan. 2024 That tension, the real versus the ideal, crops up again and again in Flock’s project. —

Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024 Really a firebrand and visionary artist who could see the future and work diligently to try to make that future real. —

Garret K. Woodward, SPIN, 3 Feb. 2024 The creators of this HBO series had a huge task before them: make the unthinkable real. —

Valerie Wu, Variety, 7 Dec. 2023 As in those stories, the fantastical is a way to process the real in a tale in which the hero’s journey is a way to come to terms with a pain that is both personal and national. —

Lucas Trevor, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2023 Shot in Quebec, the piece alludes to the possibilities offered by technology to experience emotions in two spaces simultaneously, one virtual, the other real. —

Ana María Caballero, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'real.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, real, relating to things (in law), from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin & Late Latin; Medieval Latin realis relating to things (in law), from Late Latin, real, from Latin res thing, fact; akin to Sanskrit rayi property

Noun (2)

Portuguese, from real royal, from Latin regalis

Noun (3)

Spanish, from real royal, from Latin regalis — more at royal

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adverb

1718, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

circa 1626, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1951, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun (3)

1555, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of real was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century

Cite this Entry

Style

“Real.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/real. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

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Kids Definition

real

1 of 4 adjective

re·al ˈrē(-ə)l

ˈri(-ə)l

: of, relating to, or made up of land and buildings

real property

: not artificial or fake : genuine

real leather

also : being exactly what the name implies

a real professional

: not imaginary : actual

real life

: belonging to or containing elements that belong to the set of real numbers

an equation with two real solutions

: absolute sense 1a, complete

there's a real surprise at the end

realness noun

real

2 of 4 adverb

: very entry 2 sense 1

we had a real good time

real

3 of 4 noun

re·al

rā-ˈäl

plural reals or reales

-ˈäl-ās

: an old silver coin of Spain

real

4 of 4 noun

re·al rā-ˈäl

plural reals or reis

ˈrāsh,

ˈrās,

ˈrāzh,

ˈrāz

: the basic unit of money of Brazil

: a coin or bill representing one real

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English real "real, relating to things," from early French real (same meaning), derived from Latin res "thing, matter" — related to rebus, republic

Legal Definition

real

adjective

: of or relating to real property

a real action

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real

adjective

adverb

noun (1)

noun (2)

noun (3)

Synonyms

Examples of real in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near real

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition

Legal Definition