unreal
/ʌnˈɹi.əl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality.
adj
very impressive; amazing; unbelievable; incredible; larger or more fantastic than typical of real life.
Informal
Example Sentences
- "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."
- ""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.""
- "The video includes unreal footage of an eight-metre wave."
- "I just had an unreal hamburger."
- "He stops his cab at every traffic light, unrolls his window and calls out to the other drivers: "I've got a movie star in the car! Follow me down to see her come out. She is unreal, man! I am in seventh heaven! I have a dream!""
- ""She just set me up" "Now that's unreal, man. I mean, we're talking about a fairly considerable sum here, aren't we, Dexter?" "Listen to me. She set me up, with a dude she was cheatin' on me with"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- 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 English unreal From un- + real.
Usage
Inflected Forms
more unreal (comparative)
most unreal (superlative)