UNREAL

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unreal mean? 

• UNREAL (adjective)
  The adjective UNREAL has 4 senses:

1. lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria
2. not actually such; being or seeming fanciful or imaginary
3. contrived by art rather than nature
4. lacking material form or substance; unreal

  Familiarity information: UNREAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNREAL (adjective)

Meaning:

Lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria

Context examples:

ghosts and other unreal entities / unreal propaganda serving as news

Similar:

fabulous; mythic; mythical; mythologic; mythological (based on or told of in traditional stories; lacking factual basis or historical validity)

fanciful; imaginary; imagined; notional (not based on fact; dubious)

fantastic; fantastical (existing in fancy only)

hallucinatory (characterized by or characteristic of hallucination)

illusional; illusionary (marked by or producing illusion)

illusive; illusory (based on or having the nature of an illusion)

make-believe; pretend (imagined as in a play)

fabricated; fancied; fictional; fictitious; invented; made-up (formed or conceived by the imagination)

fabled; legendary (celebrated in fable or legend)

eye-deceiving; trompe-l'oeil (creating the illusion of seeing reality)

dreamed (conceived of or imagined or hoped for)

envisioned; pictured; visualised; visualized (seen in the mind as a mental image)

Also:

insincere (lacking sincerity)

unrealistic (not realistic)

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

artificial; unreal (contrived by art rather than nature)

supernatural (not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material)

Attribute:

realism; reality; realness (the state of being actual or real)

Antonym:

real (being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory)

Meaning:

Not actually such; being or seeming fanciful or imaginary

Context examples:

this conversation is getting more and more unreal / the fantastically unreal world of government bureaucracy / the unreal world of advertising art

Similar:

deceptive; delusory (causing one to believe what is not true or fail to believe what is true)

dreamlike; surreal (resembling a dream)

phantom (something apparently sensed but having no physical reality)

Antonym:

real (no less than what is stated; worthy of the name)

Meaning:

Contrived by art rather than nature

Synonyms:

artificial; unreal

Context examples:

artificial flowers / artificial flavoring / an artificial diamond / artificial fibers / artificial sweeteners

Similar:

ersatz; substitute (artificial and inferior)

factitious (not produced by natural forces)

fake; false; faux; imitation; simulated (not genuine or real; being an imitation of the genuine article)

man-made; semisynthetic; synthetic (not of natural origin; prepared or made artificially)

near (closely resembling the genuine article)

painted (lacking substance or vitality as if produced by painting)

dummy (having the appearance of being real but lacking capacity to function)

conventionalised; conventionalized; stylised; stylized (using artistic forms and conventions to create effects; not natural or spontaneous)

celluloid; synthetic (artificial as if portrayed in a film)

arranged; staged (deliberately arranged for effect)

bionic (having particular physiological functions augmented or replaced by electronic or electromechanical components)

bleached; colored; coloured; dyed ((used of color) artificially produced; not natural)

cardboard; unlifelike (without substance)

Also:

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

unreal (lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria)

Meaning:

Lacking material form or substance; unreal

Synonyms:

insubstantial; unsubstantial; unreal

Context examples:

as insubstantial as a dream / an insubstantial mirage on the horizon

Similar:

aerial; aeriform; aery; airy; ethereal (characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air)

shadowy; wraithlike (lacking in substance)

stringy (consisting of or containing string or strings)

Also:

immaterial; nonmaterial (not consisting of matter)

Attribute:

solidness; substantiality; substantialness (the quality of being substantial or having substance)