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

As a result, many designs that appear fine on screen fail under real-world stress. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 15 Jan. 2026

The authors emphasize that such tools matter less as résumé keywords than as vehicles for understanding how models behave within real-world constraints. —IEEE Spectrum, 15 Jan. 2026

The campus collaborates with leading luxury players including Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, Bulgari, Cartier, Fendi, Tod’s and Hugo Boss and cultural institutions such as Palazzo Strozzi, giving students direct exposure to real-world industry projects. —Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 15 Jan. 2026

Fortunately, the inabit team overcame it by focusing on transparency, rigorous security design, and validating technology through real-world deployments and enterprise use cases. —William Jones, USA Today, 15 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for real-world

• lifeworld
• unfurled
• curled
• furled
• hurled
• knurled
• swirled
• twirled
• whirled
• whorled
• world
• netherworld