real
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: rēl
enpr: rēəl
ipa: /ɹiːl/
ipa: /ˈɹiː.əl/
ipa: /ɹɪl/
ipa: [ɹɪɫ]
text: UK
ipa: /ɹil/
ipa: /ˈɹi.əl/
ipa: /ɹɪl/
ipa: [ɹɪɫ]
text: US
homophone: reel stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -iːəl
rhymes: -iːl
Forms: form: realer
form: more real
form: realest
form: most real
Etymology: From Middle English real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin reālis (“actual”), from Latin rēs (“matter, thing”), from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“wealth, goods”). Doublet of realis.
Senses: examples: text: City hall has its place, but this pub is the real heart of the town.
text: [T]he real reason he didn't come was because he was scared of flying[.]
ref: 2007, Jim Kokoris, The Rich Part of Life: A Novel, →ISBN, page 179:
text: Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
ref: 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
glosses: True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
examples: text: This is real leather.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
glosses: Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
examples: text: These are real tears!
text: Whose perfection farr excell’d Hers in all real dignitie
ref: 1667, 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you[…]"share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
ref: 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
glosses: Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
examples: text: a description of real life
text: I waked, and found / Before mine eyes all real, as the dream / Had lively shadowed.
ref: 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
examples: text: No one has ever seen a real unicorn.
glosses: That has objective, physical existence.
examples: text: My dad calculated my family's real consumption per month.
text: What is the real GNP of this polity?
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: 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.
raw_tags: of a number
examples: text: real estate; real property
text: Many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Cunning”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
topics: law
glosses: Relating to immovable tangible property.
examples: text: This is a real problem.
glosses: Absolute, complete, utter.
examples: text: I'm keeping it real.
glosses: Signifying meritorious qualities or actions, especially with regard to genuineness, groundedness, and true success rather than poser imitations of success.
examples: text: yo, Imma be real with u... don't ever text me again
glosses: Signifying meritorious qualities or actions, especially with regard to genuineness, groundedness, and true success rather than poser imitations of success.
Firm through directness, readiness to confront.
Synonyms: sense: true, genuine
word: true
sense: true, genuine
word: actual
sense: genuine, not artificial
word: authentic
sense: genuine, not artificial
word: genuine
sense: genuine, not artificial
word: actual
sense: genuine, unfeigned
word: authentic
sense: genuine, unfeigned
word: genuine
sense: genuine, unfeigned
word: heartfelt
sense: genuine, unfeigned
word: true
sense: genuine, unfeigned
word: actual
sense: genuine, unfeigned
word: based
sense: that has physical existence
word: actual
Derived terms: big real mode
cyberreal
flat real mode
for real
for real life
get real
hard real-time
in a real state
in real life
it's been real
keep it real
like real
on the real
real ale
real analysis
real and straight
real asset
real axis
real body
real capital
real covenant
real deal
real diaper
real estate
real estate agent
real focus
real function
real gone
real image
real income
reality
real jam
real ledger
real life
real-life experience
real line
real live
really
real Macoy
real market
real matrix
real McCoy
real McKoy
real men don't eat quiche
real mode
real nappy
realness
real number
real one
real option
real part
real person fiction
real-person fiction
real plane
real presence
real projective plane
real property
real property tax
real quick
real reality
real return
real right
real school
real soon now
real storage
real stuff
real superhero
real talk
real tennis
real thing
real-time
real time
real valued
real-valued
real variable
real vector space
real wages
real world
real-world
real-worlder
shadow real wage
shit just got real
soft real-time
the real deal
the real thing
the real treasure is the friends we made along the way
the struggle is real
virtual real mode
will the real someone please stand up