surreal
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of surrealism, an artistic and literary style; surrealistic.
-
having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic.
surreal complexities of the bureaucracy.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- surreality noun
- surreally adverb
Etymology
Origin of surreal
First recorded in 1935–40; back formation from surrealism ( def. ); see sur- 1 ( def. ), real 1 ( def. )
Explanation
If you see a goldfish fly out of a melting clock and offer you tango lessons, you’re having a surreal experience! Either that or you’re asleep and dreaming. Things that are surreal combine unrelated elements to create a bizarre scene. The adjective surreal comes from Surrealism, a movement that produced films, writing, painting, and other art forms that often contained irrational, disjointed images. So, surreal describes something that’s a bizarre mix of elements, often jarring and seemingly nonsensical. Images can be surreal, like the melting clocks in Salvador Dali's paintings, but so can strange, dream-like moments in everyday life.
Vocabulary lists containing surreal
Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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Grade 9, List 5
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The Things They Carried
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Naturally, Lowery’s own artistic collaborators are firing on all cylinders, from Andrew Droz Palermo’s lushly surreal cinematography to original songs by FKA twigs, Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX, supported by a score by Daniel Hart.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
“AI has been helpful in creating thematically surreal images that occupy a dream space rather than a literal space,” Soderbergh said.
From Salon • Apr. 17, 2026
"It's crazy actually because we played pretty well and to be able to make the finals is just kind of surreal."
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
It felt surreal, and Jessica says she was slow to process the news.
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026
Unfortunately, just as it had the last time, the situation seemed much too surreal to take very seriously.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
