as in irrational
very strange or unusual; having the quality of a dream
a surreal atmosphere at the festival The whole situation was completely surreal.
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Recent Examples of surreal
Schiaparelli was founded in Paris in 1927 by Elsa Schiaparelli and became synonymous with eccentric and surreal designs.
—
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
The moment was surreal to the pregnant teen, who initially believed the post to be a joke.
—Staff Author, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
That entire evening was surreal, and sad.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Sep. 2025
Originally envisioned as a major international production with an American star (Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Redford and Paul Newman were all considered), the role ultimately went to Donald Sutherland, whose haunting and stylized performance anchors the film’s surreal tone.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
The moment was surreal to the pregnant teen, who initially believed the post to be a joke.
—Staff Author, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
That entire evening was surreal, and sad.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Sep. 2025
Originally envisioned as a major international production with an American star (Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Redford and Paul Newman were all considered), the role ultimately went to Donald Sutherland, whose haunting and stylized performance anchors the film’s surreal tone.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surreal
Adjective
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Jim Edwards InvestingMarkets Back in the ’90s a Fed chief warned about ‘irrational exuberance’ in the markets.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
30 Sep. 2025
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Those poor scientists – their federal funding has been taken away, their research programs scrapped, and their rigorous scientific findings ignored in favor of one man’s irrational, uninformed opinion.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The weird winning season Derek Anderson The Browns have had four winning seasons since 1999, with three of them (2002, 2020, 2023) leading to the playoffs.—
Saad Yousuf,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
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There is something weird about the audio part of it all.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Known for their loud personalities, huskies are no stranger to using their voices, but a video of a senior, deaf husky's silent howl is proving that even without sound, the breed still speaks volumes.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
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Holland also told police about other strange behavior, including an argument while shopping at Wal-Mart, where Overstreet looked at her angrily and pointed at a missing person's picture of Myers posted inside the store.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The influencer, who was in her 20s and had garnered over 300,000 followers on TikTok, allegedly wanted to cut ties with Choi due to his coercive instructions and unreasonable scheduling, according to the reports.—
Latoya Gayle,
PEOPLE,
6 Oct. 2025
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As Philadelphia gears up for hopefully a return to the playoffs in 2025-26 (although title expectations would be probably an unreasonable expectation now), the team is not being particularly precious with its previous rotational thoughts.—
Alex Kirschenbaum,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This aspect will always cast her apart, even today, in the sense that a woman’s naked body is still perceived by audiences as something that stands out for some absurd reason, unfortunately.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
2 Oct. 2025
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Their vote to shut down the government is absurd.—
Caroline Neal,
Louisville Courier Journal,
1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This is not particularly unusual, and in a traditional 4-2-3-1 system, forcing a team down one side is effective.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
6 Oct. 2025
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The lawsuit is the first to challenge the administration's unusual use of partisan messaging in government communications during the shutdown, which legal experts told NPR may violate federal ethics laws.—
Shannon Bond,
NPR,
5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Because the Patriots would go on to score 42 consecutive points before a meaningless touchdown drive by the Panthers in the final minutes, Canales’ head-scratching call the play before Jones’ return has drawn scrutiny.—
Joseph Person,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
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The big numbers coming into the Giants’ otherwise meaningless season finale were 163, 217 and 30.—
Evan Webeck,
Mercury News,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done.—
Frederick Douglass,
The Atlantic,
16 Aug. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Surreal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surreal. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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