real world

[ ree-uhl, reel ]

noun

1. the realm of practical or actual experience, as opposed to the abstract, theoretical, or idealized sphere of the classroom, laboratory, etc.:

   recent college graduates looking for jobs in the real world of rising unemployment.

Other Words From

• real-world adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of real world¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

And in the real world, this can be profound.

From Science Daily

It's reminiscent of Elon Musk's Texas compound, where he can play out his fantasies of being a feudal king behind walls that shield him from the scary real world.

From Salon

In the real world, he's a failed businessman who repeatedly filed for bankruptcy after losses so huge that even decades of fraud and two cash infusions amounting to nearly a billion dollars couldn't safeguard him.

From Salon

Baroque murders aside, and a modicum of genre clichés — an aggressive reporter, for instance, getting in our heroes’ way — it’s rooted in humans being human, and as absurd as everything is to do with Ramsay, the detectives, their families and friends live in a nicely sketched community in a well-drawn, relatively real world.

From Los Angeles Times

Audiard plays with cinematic form by often plucking his characters from the real world in the middle of a song.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• here and now