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
This dynamic is taken to extreme, surreal heights in Kobo Abe’s Woman in the Dunes, about a man whose idyll is derailed entirely.
—
James Folta, Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
The narrative features, however, such as 2010’s My Joy or 2017’s A Gentle Creature, were rich, rambling, surreal, maximalist, following characters on absurd quests through cross sections of bureaucracy and society.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
From crashing a friend's luau to searching for the sweetest spot to take a nap, avoiding work quickly spirals into thwarting surreal disasters…in the most hilarious and entertaining of ways.
—Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 23 Mar. 2026
Thus Cuarón is free to break the bleakness in his life with the surreal life where a kiss becomes the ticket for romantic flight into the skies.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for surreal
James Folta, Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
The narrative features, however, such as 2010’s My Joy or 2017’s A Gentle Creature, were rich, rambling, surreal, maximalist, following characters on absurd quests through cross sections of bureaucracy and society.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
From crashing a friend's luau to searching for the sweetest spot to take a nap, avoiding work quickly spirals into thwarting surreal disasters…in the most hilarious and entertaining of ways.
—Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 23 Mar. 2026
Thus Cuarón is free to break the bleakness in his life with the surreal life where a kiss becomes the ticket for romantic flight into the skies.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surreal
Adjective
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There’s something both early American and midcentury modern in the design of these solid-oak vanities, which arrived just as everyone seems to have gotten over an irrational fear of brown furniture.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
31 Mar. 2026
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The answer turned out to be four more years of sacrifice, struggle, and hope that must have felt, at times, completely irrational.—
Sharon McMahon,
Glamour,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Everyone got obsessed with weird things in the pandemic, like jigsaw puzzles or baking sourdough.—
Kate Bradshaw,
Mercury News,
27 Mar. 2026
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Running a restaurant can do some weird things to your head.—
Sam Stone,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Some 18 months ago, Mack said, the Royals launched a deep dive after Picollo broached the possibility of exploring strange new worlds.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
31 Mar. 2026
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But rather than avoiding strange quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement, Bennett and Brassard embraced them.—
Joseph Howlett,
Scientific American,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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As in Williams’ case, attorneys argued that a sweep had violated the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights protecting them from unreasonable search and seizure, as well as their 14th Amendment right to due process.—
Ariane Lange,
Sacbee.com,
24 Mar. 2026
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Because that is ultimately what The Secret Garden is about—the stubborn, almost unreasonable insistence of living things to grow toward the light.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Which is an absurd list of options for a kid who barely played high school ball.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
27 Mar. 2026
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The question of whether California should abolish property taxes almost seems absurd.—
Jon Coupal,
Oc Register,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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When a series of tragic failures at New Era Community Health Center left scores of the county’s weakest, poorest and most erratic residents in danger, Florida health inspectors took the unusual step of threatening to shut down the home.—
Carol Marbin Miller,
Miami Herald,
2 Apr. 2026
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Many of Barbosa’s followers know him for his unusual feats like holding the Guinness World Record for the fastest visits to every CTA station or sprinting through the United Center during a Bulls game.—
Audrey Pachuta,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The next frontier for meaningless records?—
Shawn McFarland,
Dallas Morning News,
30 Mar. 2026
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The White House already had dismissed the protests as meaningless.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Bainbridge knew about secrets and unreasoning shame.—
Christopher Tayler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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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 4 Apr. 2026.
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