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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 But what really makes Walker’s story all the more surreal-special are the twists that made his football future appear dubious. — Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026 In late August, Luke Agada logs onto Zoom from his studio in Chicago, with two new paintings of surreal domestic landscapes mounted on the wall behind him. — Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 18 Sep. 2026 The moment was especially surreal for Mason, who recently turned 30 and lives in the small country town of Inverell in northern New South Wales. — Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 15 Sep. 2026 The surreal French film Delicatessen, cowritten and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie) and Marc Caro, points its off-kilter lens at the oddball residents of an apartment building that’s scraping by post-apocalypse. — Sara Netzley, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 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
  • Between restructuring waves, automation fears and flattening hierarchies, that concern isn’t always irrational.
    — Jonathan H. Westover, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The fact, in other words, that there often isn’t a right answer or a clear victor—and that rational people are subject to irrational forces within and above them.
    — Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of irrational
Adjective
  • Read Cep’s Profile of Kingsolver » Our editors and critics choose the most captivating, notable, brilliant, surprising, absorbing, weird, thought-provoking, and talked-about books.
    — Casey Cep, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Why is this weird, scammy product now the biggest monster in the room?
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of weird
Adjective
  • The reunion becomes even stranger when Constance prepares for a dark holiday celebration, with Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) from Cult helping decorate a black Christmas tree topped with a pentagram.
    — Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2026
  • The public wiki case offers a particularly strange example of the problem.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of strange
Adjective
  • But several individually reasonable events, viewed together and over time, can tell an unreasonable story.
    — Shahen Minasyan, Forbes.com, 24 Sep. 2026
  • At the outset of the Biden administration in January 2021, NASA was still targeting a 2024 lunar landing, even though this was widely seen as unreasonable.
    — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of unreasonable
Adjective
  • Ambitious mukbang-ers eager to prove their gastronomic stamina descended on Red Lobster locations across the country to consume absurd quantities of shrimp.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026
  • When things get too absurd or heavy, a one liner pops in and Olesen knows how to do the set up, and then, the mic drop.
    — Michelle F. Solomon, Miami Herald, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of absurd
Adjective
  • Voters are deeply concerned about income disparity but also skeptical about the unusual approach of the billionaire tax.
    — Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
  • The incident adds an unusual detail to the growing record of autonomous AI behavior.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of unusual
Adjective
  • There was another shot, about a meaningless void and sitcoms being the same thing.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Hours before the Yankees’ meaningless 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, reporters swarmed Anthony Volpe’s locker as he was seen taking grounders at third base.
    — James O'Connell, New York Daily News, 23 Sep. 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 2 Oct. 2026.

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