1
as in absurd
conceived or made without regard for reason or reality
an unreal claim that is distant from the slightest hint of truth
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in imaginary
not real and existing only in the imagination
the unreal world of TV sitcoms
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unreal
The 2025 Longhorns began the season with almost unreal expectations.
—
Dj Siddiqi, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026
Modern TVs are absolutely unreal, especially compared to the halcyon days of adjusting analog antennae to clear up the picture.
—New Atlas, 16 Jan. 2026
Electric muscle meets Italian pedigree The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra arrives with numbers that sound almost unreal.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 13 Jan. 2026
Clayton and Josephson are influencers, after all, and the anxiety of the fawner—of feeling unreal, of collapsing into the world’s estimation of you, of mining something deep and internal for the consumption of others—is also the anxiety of social media.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unreal
Dj Siddiqi, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026
Modern TVs are absolutely unreal, especially compared to the halcyon days of adjusting analog antennae to clear up the picture.
—New Atlas, 16 Jan. 2026
Electric muscle meets Italian pedigree The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra arrives with numbers that sound almost unreal.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 13 Jan. 2026
Clayton and Josephson are influencers, after all, and the anxiety of the fawner—of feeling unreal, of collapsing into the world’s estimation of you, of mining something deep and internal for the consumption of others—is also the anxiety of social media.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unreal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unreal
Adjective
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Sentimental music, runaway kegs and brutally honest humor collide, making Bud Light’s Super Bowl moment feel effortless, absurd and perfectly timed.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
6 Feb. 2026
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Mike begins to struggle with the idea of doing something that might finally give his life (and his death) meaning, and although the film goes in absurd directions, Gavras sells it by pitching everything at the level of epic satire, his grandiose images working in tandem with moments of broad humor.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Finally, the researchers did another version of the original test but used imaginary grapes instead of juice, with similar results.—
Evan Bush,
NBC news,
5 Feb. 2026
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Unfortunately, the new love in your life may be imaginary and only after your bank account.—
C. A. Bridges,
Florida Times-Union,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Having stabilized his ship in orbit around the black hole, Dr Hans Reinhardt (a bizarre, OTT performance from Maximilian Schell) now plans to fly into it, assisted by an unquestioning crew of automatons with a very dark origin story.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
8 Feb. 2026
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That's bizarre to me, especially those two.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Comulate also invented a fictitious insurance agent named Jordan Bates, who purported to work for PBC and who interacted with Applied Systems salespeople through email (with a Phoenix Benefits email domain) to create a customer account on Applied’s Epic.—
John Hyatt,
Forbes.com,
30 Jan. 2026
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In a comparable case in the United States in 2023, a federal judge imposed $5,000 fines on two lawyers and a law firm after ChatGPT was blamed for their submission of fictitious legal research in an aviation injury claim.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Counting on one of the league’s most expensive talents to play meaningful minutes from here on out at his age with a track record like that is nearly as foolish as Nico trading a perennial MVP candidate at 26.—
Kevin Sherrington
Feb. 4,
Dallas Morning News,
4 Feb. 2026
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The lesson isn’t that NBA teams are reckless or foolish.—
Spencer Harrison,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The best of all sports-movie subgenres, football films have given us great characters – real and fictional – and a bunch of awesome cinematic moments in everything from screwball comedies to real-life narratives.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
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The overall look has drawn comparisons to a fictional stealth aircraft rather than a conventional Navy jet.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Last week, the wind-power green scam artists were back in federal court, arguing to be permitted to keep squandering billions more on those insane offshore windmills that produce next to no energy, but plenty of pollution.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
1 Feb. 2026
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That’s the best reaction to these stupid, insane men ruling the world now and trying to grab and dominate the world.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Indeed, Orient Express is perhaps the most mythic name in the travel world.—
Adam Erace,
Travel + Leisure,
6 Feb. 2026
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What begins as paranormal record-keeping gradually reveals a mythic tale centered on people who, fittingly, were mostly writers.—
Shannon Taggart,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unreal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unreal. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.
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