surreal

adjective

Definition of surrealnext
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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of surreal What happened next only made the experience feel more surreal. — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 27 July 2026 With an abundance of genre-crossing indulgences that are scary, surreal, and sometimes silly, the Paramount+ hit is operating at full warp speed in this penultimate outing, the debut episode of which just premiered on July 23, 2026. — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 24 July 2026 Painterly compositions, operatic violence, and surreal emotional logic overwhelm the audience in twisted worlds that overwhelm first and explain second. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 24 July 2026 The accompanying video unfolds as a kaleidoscopic fantasy, with Whack making a scene-stealing appearance amid a series of increasingly surreal twists. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 23 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for surreal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surreal
  1. irrational
  2. weird
  3. strange
  4. unreasonable
  5. absurd
  6. unusual
  7. meaningless
  8. unreasoning
Adjective
  • For all the film focuses on Carlson’s irrational attempts to peg the murder on gay people, the actual gay man Tom disappears from the narrative for long periods of time.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 31 July 2026
  • Retailers’ reputations as poor environments for technology innovation is not unjustified, but their behavior is not completely irrational either.
    — Richard Kestenbaum, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026
Definition of irrational
Adjective
  • Chip Honcho seems unlikely to be enormously loved by the track money, but weirder things have happened.
    — Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • This is a problem with anything that gets into that weird private equity, conglomerate zone.
    — Walden Green, Pitchfork, 30 July 2026
Definition of weird
Adjective
  • That strange sense of incompletion hung over the Detroit Tigers’ clubhouse Saturday night.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Having collaborated with his parents since the late 1980s, Berenstain was no stranger to furthering the family legacy.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of strange
Adjective
  • Which is not entirely unreasonable given this very specific set of circumstances.
    — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Recalls are issued when vehicle owners, regulators, or manufacturers determine that a potentially faulty component presents an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet specified standards.
    — Jim Gorzelany, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of unreasonable
Adjective
  • Open the requisition on a Monday and the number is already absurd.
    — Vibhas Ratanjee, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • Their air of slightly absurd quasi-spontaneity is nicely amplified by the jittery yet unobtrusive rhythms of the direction and Yost’s editing.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 28 July 2026
Definition of absurd
Adjective
  • Ultimately, both sides are jockeying for power after the war, given the unusual uncertainty brought on by the change in the supreme leadership.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Some reported magnetic order, unusual Hall effects, and efficient spin-charge conversion, while others found no evidence of magnetism in bulk crystals or relaxed thin films.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of unusual
Adjective
  • But that pledge does little to address the creation of deepfakes themselves, and is meaningless without digital tools that make detecting deepfakes possible.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Aug. 2026
  • The show also underscores the frustration of meaningless tasks, mirroring widespread disengagement when work lacks clear purpose.
    — Kate Wieczorek, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of meaningless
Adjective
  • But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 July 2026
  • Roosevelt surely understood that nameless, unreasoning, unjustified fear cannot be eradicated.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 9 June 2026
Definition of unreasoning

Browse Nearby Words

surprisingly
surreal
surreality
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Cite this Entry

“Surreal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surreal. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of surreal for Spanish Speakers

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