real-world

adjective

ˈrē(-ə)l-ˈwər(-ə)ld 

: existing or occurring in reality : drawn from or drawing on actual events or situations : real-life

a real-world example

… the complex relationship between a word and the real-world thing it labels.

—Jean Aitchison

Digital objects aren't bound by the same constraints as real-world objects—that is, broadly speaking, the whole point of digital objects—but they're often made to look like real-world objects anyway.

—Lev Grossman

… combine the rigors of academics with the soothing realities of real-world applications.

—Ricardo Bilton

The paintings are essentially abstract, but they don't feel abstract. They feature, besides passages of figurative drawing, a real-world aura …

—Peter Schjeldahl

Examples of real-world in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Pedersen said the team’s research included physical tests using models and was informed by real-world accident findings. —Júlia Ledur, Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2024

The company said the fact that Big River was a secret was to ensure that its team had real-world experience as a small business would through its interactions. —Laura Bratton, Quartz, 18 Apr. 2024

To its credit, the U.K. government has taken a balanced and pragmatic approach to AI to date, including proposing regulation focused on addressing real-world risks and encouraging socially beneficial innovation. —Victor Riparbelli, Fortune Europe, 17 Apr. 2024

Choosing performance and track stamina over energy efficiency takes a bite out of real-world driving range. —IEEE Spectrum, 17 Apr. 2024

This feedback underscores the real-world impact of glōci, affirming its role in promoting not only aesthetic improvements but also a better sense of well-being. —Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024

Here's my own real-world scenario: Our roundtrip economy flights from Phoenix to New Zealand (in region terms: Mainland US, Alaska & Canada to Australia & New Zealand) would have cost 80,000 miles each no matter what. —Callie Radke Stevens, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Apr. 2024

In 2021, Koh came across a paper that discussed how to grapple with chaotic orbits from the perspective of symplectic geometry, an abstract field of math that is generally far removed from messy real-world details. —Quanta Magazine, 15 Apr. 2024

What are the real-world consequences for the way the Court interprets it? —Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above