unreal

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ʌnˈriəl/ UK /ʌnˈrɪəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
not real or existing; seeming imaginary or implausible

The whole evening had an unreal, dreamlike quality.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · not real or existing;... imaginary illusory fictitious fanciful fake phantomsurreal

Opposites

real actual genuine authentic

Word family

Forms unreally

Derived forms unrealityunreally

Related forms real realityrealness

Etymology

From un- ('not') + real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin realis ('actual'), from Latin res ('thing, matter').

un- Old English res Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

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# unreal

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ʌnˈriəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ʌnˈrɪəl/

## Meanings
1. not real or existing; seeming imaginary or implausible

## Examples
- The whole evening had an unreal, dreamlike quality.

## Synonyms
- imaginary
- illusory
- fictitious
- fanciful
- fake
- phantom
- surreal

## Antonyms
- real
- actual
- genuine
- authentic

## Derived Forms
- unreality
- unreally

## Related Forms
- real
- reality
- realness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: un-
- Root: res

## Etymology
From un- ('not') + real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin realis ('actual'), from Latin res ('thing, matter').

## AI Etymology
Unreal comes from un- ('not') + real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin realis ('actual'), from Latin res ('thing, matter'). The historical chain includes Old English un- and Latin res. The quoted older senses, "not", "actual", and "thing, matter", supply the semantic anchors for unreal. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word unreal carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "not real or existing; seeming imaginary or implausible". English derivatives include unreality and unreally; related English forms include real, reality, and realness. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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unreal

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