real
/ˈɹiː.əl/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.60 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
adj
Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
adj
Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).
adj
Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
adj
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.
Example Sentences
- "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[.]"
- "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."
- "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."
- "These are real tears!"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁ís Proto-Italic *reis Classical Latin rēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Late Latin reālisder. Old French reelbor. Middle English real English real 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. In modern times, likely strengthened by or conflated with the use of the prefix re-, analyzable as re- + -al.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹiːl/
- British English: /ɹiːl/
Usage
- Slang
- American usage
- Colloquial
- Obsolete
- Countable
Inflected Forms
realer (comparative)
more real (comparative)
realest (superlative)
most real (superlative)
reals (plural)
reales (plural)
reis (plural)
réis (plural)
reais (plural)