SURREAL Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

surreal

adjective

Definition of surreal

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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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 That familiarity has certainly worked in the movie’s favor among some viewers, particularly those invested in its maximalist approach to both familial melodrama and semi-surreal scares. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 12 Oct. 2026 Stepping onto the train felt surreal, an experience previously confined to my trips aboard. — Sophia Dyer, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Oct. 2026 Coming home to a hostile crowd had to feel surreal … and things only got weirder from there. — Tyler Estep, AJC.com, 12 Oct. 2026 The effect dissipates somewhat whenever Cahyono resorts to less suggestive, more blatantly surreal imagery. — Kambole Campbell, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for surreal

Recent Examples of Synonyms for surreal

Adjective

The industrial revolutions of the past produced enormous value alongside bankruptcies, dislocations, and periods of irrational exuberance.

— Brian Solis, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
If anyone can reconstruct Apéry’s reasoning, the odd values of zeta may finally be proven irrational.

— Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of irrational

Adjective

Chad Marlow, a policy attorney with the ACLU, argues that citizens remain at risk for unreasonable surveillance under Missouri’s new guidelines.

— Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 9 Oct. 2026
The factors most closely tied to burnout included unfair treatment, crushing workloads, unclear expectations, poor communication and support from managers, and unreasonable deadlines.

— Christos Makridis, The Conversation, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of unreasonable

Adjective

This episode notably lacked any nod to Trump, though mentions of the president as a whole have been brief compared to the previous season, when the president was the show’s focal point for absurd antics.

— Payton Turkeltaub, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
And Saturday’s win proved that his plan to pursue championships — something that seemed absurd amid a lost 2025 season — has a real possibility of paying off with one.

— Connor Dullinger, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of absurd

Adjective

Six months after Vincent’s suicide, Theo died from the ravages of syphilis, leaving Jo a young widow with a baby to support, not much money, and an unusual inheritance—Vincent’s paintings—more than 400 in total.

— Joan Martelli, Time, 17 Oct. 2026
While his neighbors weren’t alarmed enough by the unusual sight to call security, Abrams wasn’t as lucky during filming at Radford Studios in Studio City.

— Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of unusual

Adjective

But San Francisco is now 4-0 with three wins by double digits and a fourth that would have been a nine-point win if not for a virtually meaningless late field goal last week.

— Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Oct. 2026
Functional performance has always been counted in throughput, cost per transaction and cycle time, and those measures become close to meaningless once the routine work runs itself.

— Charisma Glassman, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 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

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“Surreal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surreal. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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adjective

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Synonyms of surreal

adjective

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