real number

[ ree-uhl, reel ]

/ ˈri əl, ril /

Save This Word!

noun Mathematics.

a rational number or the limit of a sequence of rational numbers, as opposed to a complex number.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Also called real.

Origin of real number

First recorded in 1905–10

Words nearby real number

reallocate, reallocation, really, realm, real money trade, real number, real part, realpolitik, real presence, real property, real storage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use real number in a sentence

On the show, a random real number was chosen between 0 and 100.
Can You Skillfully Ski The Slopes?|Zach Wissner-Gross|January 22, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
That's probably an undercount of the real number of infections across the country, as not everyone who is infected gets tested.
Nearly 1 in 200 Americans was diagnosed with COVID in the last week|Caitlin Owens|December 18, 2020|Axios
The real number is much higher once its 20th Television Studio, FX, Searchlight, National Geographic and ESPN services are factored in, as well as the Hulu and ESPN Plus platforms.
Disney unveils huge cache of content, signaling it seeks to dominate both digital and theaters|Steven Zeitchik|December 11, 2020|Washington Post
Once you get rid of that unwieldy infinity of real numbers lots of things are easier to solve, like quantum gravity.
Top 10 questions I’d ask an alien from the Galactic Federation|Tom Siegfried|December 9, 2020|Science News

The true price of this item was a randomly selected real number between 0 and 100.
Can You Feed The Hot Hand?|Zach Wissner-Gross|October 23, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
The real number is much higher as many items are stolen from undocumented “virgin” sites.
Egyptian Tomb-Robbing Market Explodes on eBay|Bel Trew|May 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Remes, by the way, says he and the others lawyers believe that the real number of hunger strikers is closer to 130.
Shame on Americans for Ignoring Gitmo|Michael Tomasky|April 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The economist Justin Wolfers estimates based on combining the two that the real number is more like 30,000.
Unemployment and the Sequester|Michael Tomasky|April 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
In 2011, women reported 3,000 instances; the real number is thought to be 19,000.
‘The Invisible War’ Spurs Action Against Military Rape|Eleanor Clift|February 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But an RJC board member told the investigative website Open Secrets that the real number was more like $15 million.
Supply-Siders|Peter Beinart|November 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We have seen reason for believing that in the oldest days the real number of the real hides was largely over-estimated.
Domesday Book and Beyond|Frederic William Maitland
The teacher names successively several numbers, and asks whether they think the real number will be greater or less.
The Teacher|Jacob Abbott
Now the real number of worlds surpasses all human calculation, either written or possible to be written.
Lumen|Camille Flammarion
We find in a cover by General Sheaffe, that the first report of the cannon taken was one-third short of the real number.
The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock|Ferdinand Brock Tupper
They are real, perhaps, in the sense that two is a real number as opposed to √-2, which is imaginary.
The Worlds of If|Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

British Dictionary definitions for real number

real number

noun

a number expressible as a limit of rational numbersSee number (def. 1)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for real number

real number

[ rē′əl ]

A number that can be written as a terminating or nonterminating decimal; a rational or irrational number. The numbers 2, -12.5, 37, and pi (π) are all real numbers.