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
The two movies do share a portrait of capitalism in extremis, in which the race to hold onto increasingly smaller pieces of a rapidly dissolving pie feeds more surreal transgressions.
—
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 Aug. 2025
Monte Cook Games would go on to create several fan favorite games such as the surreal magic and mystery of Invisible Sun to games based off of popular podcasts like Old Gods of Appalachia and The Magnus Archives.
—Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Shot on 16mm with all sound built in post-production, the final product is a surreal piece of work.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 29 Aug. 2025
In one of the most surreal live television moments of the early 21st century, Kanye West stared straight into the camera, ignored the teleprompter, and said what millions were already thinking.
—Jesus Mesa, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 Aug. 2025
Monte Cook Games would go on to create several fan favorite games such as the surreal magic and mystery of Invisible Sun to games based off of popular podcasts like Old Gods of Appalachia and The Magnus Archives.
—Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Shot on 16mm with all sound built in post-production, the final product is a surreal piece of work.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 29 Aug. 2025
In one of the most surreal live television moments of the early 21st century, Kanye West stared straight into the camera, ignored the teleprompter, and said what millions were already thinking.
—Jesus Mesa, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surreal
Adjective
-
Maura’s performance makes Maria Angeles so magnetic and eccentric — earthily practical on some matters, dizzily irrational on others, and sympathetically true to herself on all fronts — that all the film’s other players want for detail and texture by comparison.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
4 Sep. 2025
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The roll call of people across the decades who have had access to nuclear weapons includes many who are considerably less rational than the irrational rest of us.—
Rivka Galchen,
New Yorker,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Even with Muchová so clearly struggling, Osaka faced some weird jeopardy down the stretch.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
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Far from being dead, reunions exist now in a zone of distortion, a weird gray area in which many people feel obligated to go without quite knowing why.—
Jordan Michelman,
The Atlantic,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Because something very strange happens here.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
6 Sep. 2025
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Probably not, given the company’s strange hesitance to part ways with its current leadership.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The Justice Department in its June 2024 report on problems with policing in Phoenix found that police delayed medical assistance to people who appeared to be incapacitated as a result of the use of force by officers and used unreasonable force on people who had already been wounded by officers.—
Elena Santa Cruz,
AZCentral.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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Investors had initially feared that ASDA’s undercuts would lead to market leaders Tesco and Sainsbury’s having to lower prices to an unreasonable point in order to maintain their market shares.—
John Choong,
Forbes.com,
1 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
These charges are absurd and unjust.—
David Goodhue,
Miami Herald,
3 Sep. 2025
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The content is absurd, borderline uncomfortable and consistently viral.—
Leeron Walter,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Because our mulch is rubber, this seemed unusual, and out of caution, the guardian was called immediately.—
Latoya Gayle,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
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Routh, who is representing himself, has filed unusual motions requesting strippers and a golf round with the president.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA Today,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The Russo-Ukrainian war, and the Israel-Iran conflict have both shown that sophistication alone is meaningless if delivered in teaspoon doses.—
Amir Husain,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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My worry is that AI use becomes ubiquitous enough that the label becomes meaningless—like saying a house was built with a pneumatic brad nailer versus a hammer.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
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 10 Sep. 2025.
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