surreal
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of surrealism, an artistic and literary style; surrealistic.
-
having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic.
surreal complexities of the bureaucracy.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of surreal
First recorded in 1935–40; back formation from surrealism ( def. ); see sur- 1 ( def. ), real 1 ( def. )
Explanation
If you see a goldfish fly out of a melting clock and offer you tango lessons, you’re having a surreal experience! Either that or you’re asleep and dreaming. Things that are surreal combine unrelated elements to create a bizarre scene. The adjective surreal comes from Surrealism, a movement that produced films, writing, painting, and other art forms that often contained irrational, disjointed images. So, surreal describes something that’s a bizarre mix of elements, often jarring and seemingly nonsensical. Images can be surreal, like the melting clocks in Salvador Dali's paintings, but so can strange, dream-like moments in everyday life.
Vocabulary lists containing surreal
Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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Grade 9, List 5
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The Things They Carried
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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.
Churchill juxtaposes a surreal dinner party featuring famous women from literature, history and myth with a contemporary drama of two sisters who have made starkly different choices with their lives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The movie earned a huge response at its Telluride premiere, though there were some quibbles about the surprising, surreal turns the story takes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Instead, once the predictable sound and fury had been diluted by City's composure and the swift realisation they were not unnerved by Anfield or the storm raging around the club, this was a surreal experience.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Joshua Robinson caught up with Norway’s 6-foot-5 striker on terrifying his opponents—and the surreal World Cup summer that turned him into much more than a soccer star.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
And here’s where things became completely surreal, because riding by his side, astride a creature with the body of a ravid and the head and wings of Wraith the white eagle was...Sarai.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
