- singular of reis.
real
1 Americanadjective
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true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent.
the real reason for an act.
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existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or fictitious.
a story taken from real life.
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being an actual thing; having objective existence; not imaginary.
The events you will see in the film are real and not just made up.
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being actually such; not merely so-called.
a real victory.
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genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic.
a real antique;
a real diamond;
real silk.
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unfeigned or sincere: a real friend.
real sympathy;
a real friend.
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Informal. absolute; complete; utter.
She's a real brain.
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Philosophy.
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existent or pertaining to the existent as opposed to the nonexistent.
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actual as opposed to possible or potential.
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independent of experience as opposed to phenomenal or apparent.
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(of money, income, or the like) measured in purchasing power rather than in nominal value.
Inflation has driven income down in real terms, though nominal income appears to be higher.
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Optics. (of an image) formed by the actual convergence of rays, as the image produced in a camera (opposed to virtual).
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Mathematics.
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of, relating to, or having the value of a real number.
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using real numbers.
real analysis; real vector space.
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adverb
noun
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the real,
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something that actually exists, as a particular quantity.
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reality in general.
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idioms
noun
noun
adjective
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existing or occurring in the physical world; not imaginary, fictitious, or theoretical; actual
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(prenominal) true; actual; not false
the real reason
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(prenominal) deserving the name; rightly so called
a real friend
a real woman
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not artificial or simulated; genuine
real sympathy
real fur
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(of food, etc) traditionally made and having a distinct flavour
real ale
real cheese
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philosophy existent or relating to actual existence (as opposed to nonexistent, potential, contingent, or apparent)
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(prenominal) economics (of prices, incomes, wages, etc) considered in terms of purchasing power rather than nominal currency value
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(prenominal) denoting or relating to immovable property such as land and tenements Compare personal
real property
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physics Compare image
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maths involving or containing real numbers alone; having no imaginary part
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music
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(of the answer in a fugue) preserving the intervals as they appear in the subject
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denoting a fugue as having such an answer Compare tonal
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informal (intensifier)
a real fool
a real genius
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the genuine article, not an inferior or mistaken substitute
noun
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short for real number
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that which exists in fact; reality
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slang not as a test or trial; in earnest
noun
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the standard monetary unit of Brazil, divided into 100 centavos
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a former coin of Portugal
noun
Usage
The intensifying adverb real, meaning “very,” is informal and limited to speech or to written representations of speech: He drives a real beat-up old car. The adjective real meaning “true, actual, genuine, etc.,” is standard in all types of speech and writing: Their real reasons for objecting became clear in the discussion. The informal adjective sense “absolute, complete” is also limited to speech or representations of speech: These interruptions are a real bother.
Synonym Usage
Real, actual, true in general use describe objects, persons, experiences, etc., that are what they are said or purport to be. That which is described as real is genuine as opposed to counterfeit, false, or merely supposed: a real emerald; real leather binding; My real ambition is to be a dentist. Actual usually stresses contrast with another state of affairs that has been proposed or suggested: The actual cost is much less; to conceal one's actual motive. True implies a perfect correspondence with actuality and is in direct contrast to that which is false or inaccurate: a true account of the events; not bravado but true courage. See also authentic.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of real1
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English real(le) “actual, having physical existence); (law) pertaining to goods or property,” from Old French reel, real and Medieval Latin reālis “(law) pertaining to things rather than persons,” from Late Latin reālis “actual, real,” equivalent to Latin re-, variant stem of rēs “thing, matter, affair” + -ālis -al 1
Origin of real2
First recorded in 1550–60; from Spanish: literally, “royal” (the coins being minted for the king), from Latin rēgālis regal 1
Explanation
Something real is genuine. If you inherit some jewelry, you'll have to take it to an expert to know if those diamonds are real or just cubic zirconia, which looks like a diamond but isn't worth nearly as much. That seven footed monster your big brother used to tell you frightening stories about isn't real, and neither, sorry to say, is Santa Claus, because to be real, something has to actually exist. Real has roots in the Latin word res, meaning "thing." We also use real to mean "significant," like when we say something is a real problem, or when we say we're really, truly sorry about something. In old Spain or Brazil, a real is a coin.
Vocabulary lists containing real
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“The punk rock ethos of Dadaism really resonates with me — breaking down the barriers of something in order to find the real essence of it. That’s what we’re trying to do in class.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Eerily, I had made a note only a few days earlier to see whether the real library had it.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Big spending into a jittery bond market is roughly like lighting a match to check whether the gas leak is real.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Powell described it as a "real cost-of-living issue" for young people, adding: "They're paying high repayments and never, ever paying off the capital of their student loan."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Between gasps, Dalton asks, “What do we win if it’s not a real place?”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Spaniards have rhapsodized over Gypsy Vicente Escudero ever since, at the age of 9, he danced in the streets with his Gypsy relatives, went through the crowds passing his worn cap for reales.
From Time Magazine Archive
For the price of five reales, people could look into the telescope and see the gypsy woman an arm’s length away.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Without knowing what to say, he paid ten reales more so that his sons could have that prodigious experience.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"The poor began to murmur, the rich began to complain; and the tariff of fourteen reales was demanded from the viceroy."
"Dos reales" was the price of that piece of lavish entertainment, the old twopence-halfpenny still holding sway in out-districts against the more modern decimal notation.
From The Recipe for Diamonds by Hyne, Charles John Cutcliffe Wright
In Caracas, prices are often denominated in dollars or euros, while on the borders, Colombian pesos and Brazilian reals are often used.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
I’m just so happy that it’s all been captured for reals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024
Overall, the government expects the auction, which could continue into Friday, to bring in as much as 50 billion reals.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
The bolívar, the national currency, is worthless, and goods are paid for in gold or reals, the Brazilian currency.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2019
“Wow! For reals? That’s a lot of people.”
From "In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse" by Joseph Marshall III
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
