get real

Idioms

Be realistic, understand what's going on, as in You think you'll win the lottery if you buy one ticket a week? Get real! [Slang; second half of 1900s]

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.

You need to dig a little deeper to get real financial advice that is specific to your situation.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026

He added: "Can we just get real on this?"

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

“I think that would be a tremendous boost for not just representation, but also you’ll get real specialists.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2026

Before that, investors will get real estate data, including the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index on Monday and S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Cotality Case-Shiller index for October on Tuesday.

From Barron's • Dec. 29, 2025

I gotta get real lucky, and before I even get a chance to be the right kind of lucky, I gotta get lucky enough to live.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023