real-life
adjective
existing or happening in reality.
real-life
American
[ree-uhl-lahyf, reel-]
/ ˈri əlˌlaɪf, ˈril- /
adjective
real life
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of real-life
First recorded in 1830–40
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:
"We are working to make it more feasible for practical application in real-life scenarios," Poulos said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
So she partnered with a company called Met Through Friends, which organises and encourages real-life meetups for people looking for love.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
The video, clearly fake, was a spoof of Sarkisian’s real-life choice to blow off an interview with Rowe in the aftermath of Texas’ win over the Buckeyes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Now, Agility has taken that barrier out of the picture by making its humanoids capable of safety working alongside real-life humans.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
So I fall back on the support networks of my real-life social class, call the dermatologist I know in Key West, and bludgeon him into prescribing something sight unseen.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
For Edgar-Jones, the theme of sisterhood is something that stuck with her from Sense and Sensibility - despite her being an only child in real life.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Meta’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth said during a July podcast that the feature would allow people to remember the names of others they met in real life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Maybe you’ve wondered why Greenland and Africa look roughly the same size on such maps, when Africa is actually 14 times larger, or why Antarctica looks infinitely large, when that isn’t true in real life.
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2026
I petted my bird by tapping my screen while my real life cat glared at me from a corner.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
Ben walked around with some very tiny fraction of his mind alert to the probabilities of disasters in real life.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
