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.
The company has followed previous Musk ventures in sharing ambitions that border on the surreal, including spacebound data centers and Mars-based manufacturing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The result can be a completely new scenario that feels immersive, emotionally intense, or surreal.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
The song's popularity a "surreal moment" Joel said.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Shantae Amankwaah, who is part of the same Bristol Hawks gymnastics club where Fragapane began her career, said it is "surreal" to be heading to the same competition.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Or maybe his mind was just trying once more to turn something surreal and unbelievable into something ordinary and familiar and easily dismissed.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
