Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Explanation
Surreality is a characteristic of being extremely disorienting and bizarre. The surreality of seeing your dog pedaling a unicycle will make you realize you're having that strange dream again. Surreality comes from Surrealism, a European art movement that started after World War I and is known for images like Salvador Dali's painting of melting watches. The word itself means "beyond realism" in French, and surreality is distinguished by the sense that things seem real but are so illogical and unsettling that they can't possibly be. Sometimes everyday life seems like a bizarre dream, its surreality making you pinch yourself to see if you're actually asleep.
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:
All of these familiar faces allow “The Moment” to consistently straddle realism and surreality, keeping the narrative precarious and compelling even in its most tedious moments.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2026
Kuritzkes: I knew that we weren’t going to shoot it in a way that softened the edges of Burroughs’ surreality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024
“You have to embrace what Noel brings to a show that has an element of fantasy and surreality to it,” he says.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
"My blonde hair and your darker skin put us in the frame for total shock and surreality," said Mr McCarthy.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2023
The shocking surreality of the citadel—the sheer size of the thing—played havoc with the mind’s sense of scale.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
In truth it seems like something more banal and admirable: strangeness, the strangeness of our world and other possible worlds, and the places where those surrealities merge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2020
Private Life’s early scenes, in which Rachel pursues treatment for her own ova, immerse the viewer in the sorrows and surrealities of in vitro fertilization.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2018
The evening concluded, as all this company’s productions do, with a splashy, dizzyingly odd encore, this one lasting well over 15 minutes and including the old Frank Sinatra standard “That’s Life,” among other surrealities.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2016
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.
