as in illusion
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality
a sci-fi author who seems to have preferred the unrealities of his own fiction to the realities of the world about him
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unreality
The theme-park-like aesthetic added to the unreality of Annie's situation, living mostly in solitary confinement for the years after the world ended.
—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
23 Feb. 2026
Contributing to this air of unreality is Kari Kankaanpää’s production design, in which everything feels a little heightened and stylized.
—
Catherine Bray,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
Yet even as Pym stalked him, slept with him, and pined after him, there was an element of unreality in her ardor, Harvey recalled.
—
Literary Hub,
17 Nov. 2025
The cringing mortifications and unsettling unreality make the series a tough sit.
—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unreality
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
23 Feb. 2026
Contributing to this air of unreality is Kari Kankaanpää’s production design, in which everything feels a little heightened and stylized.
—
Catherine Bray,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
Yet even as Pym stalked him, slept with him, and pined after him, there was an element of unreality in her ardor, Harvey recalled.
—
Literary Hub,
17 Nov. 2025
The cringing mortifications and unsettling unreality make the series a tough sit.
—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unreality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unreality
Noun
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Cosm has really cut its teeth on a lot of live sports and concert films, with the dome shape and stadium seating designed to give the illusion of being on the field or in the front row.
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Unfortunately, says Bradley Elliott, a researcher at the University of Westminster and trustee for the British Society for Research on Ageing, this is an illusion.
Noun
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Daeron Targaryen Daeron Targaryen, otherwise known as Daeron the Drunkard, is a bookish and melancholy Targaryen prince known for his prophetic dreams.
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An avant-garde sightseeing bus turns Hollywood into a stage, drawing locals for a mash-up of state history, gothic storytelling and public-intellectual riffing on the broken California dream.
Noun
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Disney+ has handed a pilot order to Aquamarine, based on the 2006 teen fantasy romantic comedy starring Emma Roberts.
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Two years ago, Brown appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show to discuss doing her own stunts on the fantasy-action film Damsel.
Noun
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And amidst the momentum of reverie, there’s the line ‘Blink at the light and hope to survive,’ because daydreams in a fascist state can be scary too.
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One-touch passing, feinting and ripping hard shots into a tattered net, each is super-charged by vivid daydreams of glory on the international stage.
Noun
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Now a high schooler at Phillips Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, Jung has actualized his vision to keep his grandparents safe on crosswalks − and has a medal and $6,000 to show for it.
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Modern leadership increasingly demands physical fitness beyond traditional executive skills like strategic vision and emotional intelligence.
Noun
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By chance, Rhaena arrives at the Gullet on dragonback just in time to make the same hubristic mistake as her sister and her cousin, all suffering from the delusion that the war needs them.
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Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health condition that is marked by a mix of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression, mania and a milder form of mania called hypomania, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Cite this Entry
“Unreality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unreality. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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