real world

[ ree-uhl, reel ]

/ ˈri əl, ril /

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See synonyms for real world on Thesaurus.com

noun

the realm of practical or actual experience, as opposed to the abstract, theoretical, or idealized sphere of the classroom, laboratory, etc.: recent college graduates looking for jobs in the real world of rising unemployment.

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Origin of real world

First recorded in 1960–65

OTHER WORDS FROM real world

real-world, adjective

Words nearby real world

real-time strategy, Realtor, realty, real variable, real wages, real world, ream, reamer, rean, reanalysis, reanimate

How to use real world in a sentence

These episodes exposed the many new complications created by the NBA’s decision to return to the real world.
The NBA’s week of controversies show how hard life is outside of the bubble|Ben Golliver|February 12, 2021|Washington Post
I’m not a very “online” person, so someone who wants to do lots of stuff in the real world.
Meet D.C.’s Most Eligible LGBTQ Singles|Staff reports|February 11, 2021|Washington Blade
Maybe we’ll finally find a way to figure out what actually happens to the head during a crash so we can design helmets for the real world, not the lab.
The Trek WaveCel Helmet Lawsuit, Explained|Joe Lindsey|February 10, 2021|Outside Online
Swapping mirrors to the different rooms of the dollhouse would open new portals in the real world.
‘The Medium’ review: A disjointed, unfulfilling puzzle horror game|Elise Favis|February 1, 2021|Washington Post

Family parties weren't a feature of our pre-pandemic life, and these family members rarely, if ever, saw one another in the real world, except at weddings and funerals.
Miss Manners: Save me from these interminable video ‘parties’|Judith Martin, Nicholas Martin, Jacobina Martin|February 1, 2021|Washington Post
But along with the cartoon funk is an all-too-real story of police brutality embodied by a horde of evil Pigs.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical|Stereo Williams|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The world that Black Dynamite lives in is not the most PC place to be in.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical|Stereo Williams|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Have a look at this telling research from Pew on blasphemy and apostasy laws around the world.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Allegations of transphobia are not new in the world of gay online dating.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem|David Levesley|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
People watch night soaps because the genre allows them to believe in a world where people just react off their baser instincts.
‘Empire’ Review: Hip-Hop Musical Chairs with an Insane Soap Opera Twist|Judnick Mayard|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Descending the Alps to the east or south into Piedmont, a new world lies around and before you.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
All over the world the just claims of organized labor are intermingled with the underground conspiracy of social revolution.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
There seems something in that also which I could spare only very reluctantly from a new Bible in the world.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
That it is a reasonable and proper thing to ask our statesmen and politicians: what is going to happen to the world?
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The "new world" was really found in the wonder-years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock