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real
English
Meaning of real in English
real
adjective
UK
/rɪəl/ US
/ˈriː.əl/
real adjective (NOT IMAGINARY)
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A2
existing in fact and not imaginary:
Assuring the patient that she has a real and not imaginary problem is the first step.
There is a very real threat that he will lose his job.
Synonym
true (REAL)
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
existing in fact
realHe doesn't think climate change is real.
trueHe had finally found true love.
actualWe had 500 people register for the conference, but we won't have the actual number of attendees until afterwards.
factualThere's no factual information at all in that email.
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real earnings, income, etc.
the value of earnings, etc. after the effect of rising prices is considered:
Wages rose by 2.9 percent last year, but real earnings still fell by 1.3 percent.
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in real terms
after considering things that affect what a number or amount really means, such as the effect of rising prices:
Average earnings rose 5 percent in real terms after deducting income tax.
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the real world
things as they really are, not as they exist in the imagination, in a story, on the internet, etc.:
Over-protecting children does not equip them to deal with the real world.
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More examples
She has a real feel for language.
Was King Arthur a real or a legendary character?
Politicians these days are more interested in playing to the gallery than exercising real influence on world events.
Most modern kings and queens rule their countries only in a formal way, without real power.
The main political parties are merely shadow-boxing, instead of tackling the real economic problems facing this country.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
True, real, false, and unreal
actual
actuality
actually
ahistoric
ahistorical
fairy tale
faithful
fake news
false
false flag
nominally
non-deceptive
non-material
non-realistic
not so much idiom
unglamorized
unlikely
unproved
unproven
unreal
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real adjective (NOT FALSE)
A2 [ before noun ]
being what it appears to be and not false:
real leather/fur
Is that a toy gun or the real thing?
Synonym
genuine
Opposite
fake
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
being what it appears to be
realThat's not his real hair, is it? I thought it was a bad wig!
genuineThe painting is a genuine Picasso.
authenticThe clerk certified that the documents were authentic.
honest-to-goodnessMy father is an honest-to-goodness door-to-door salesman.
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[ before noun ] UK approving
(especially of foods) produced using traditional methods and without artificial substances:
The pub sells several kinds of real ale (= traditional beer).
for real B2 informal
real, not pretended:
I thought it was just a drill but apparently it was for real.
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More examples
You can always tell a real bow tie from one that clips on.
"Is that real fur on your collar?" "Certainly not - I only wear fake fur."
Those flowers aren't real - they're made of plastic.
George Orwell was a pseudonym - his real name was Eric Blair.
It turned out that he wasn't a real doctor at all - he was just a sham.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
True, real, false, and unreal
actual
actuality
actually
ahistoric
ahistorical
fairy tale
faithful
fake news
false
false flag
nominally
non-deceptive
non-material
non-realistic
not so much idiom
unglamorized
unlikely
unproved
unproven
unreal
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Various qualities of food
real adjective (IMPORTANT)
B2 [ before noun ]
the most important; the main:
The real difficulty was the language, because my children don't speak English.
Novelty value may be a part of it, but the real reason people like our paper is that it speaks the truth.
More examples
Knowledge of languages is a real asset in this sort of work.
My one real vice is chocolate.
Creativity, ingenuity and flair are the songwriter's real talents.
The real disease affecting the country is inflation.
The proposal was dismissed as a diversionary tactic intended to distract attention from the real problems.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Intelligence
acuity
acumen
agilely
agility
apt
gifted
grey matter
gumption
highbrow
horse sense
penetration
penetrative
perceptively
percipiently
perspicacious
well read
well versed
when all is said and done idiom
whip-smart
wisdom
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real adjective (VERY GREAT)
B2 [ before noun ]
used to emphasize a noun:
He's a real gentleman.
She was a real help.
It's a real nuisance.
More examples
I get a real kick out of owning my own car.
She picked up some real bargains in the sale.
You were right about Pete - he's a real troublemaker.
You gave us a real scare when you fainted, you know.
It was a real culture shock to find herself in London after living on a small island.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Big and quite big
appreciable
baronial
bigly
bulky
fullness
grandiose
grandiosely
grandly
grandness
greatness
growthy
on the large, small, etc. side idiom
outsize
over-large
palatial
palatially
the bigger the better idiom
voluminously
XL
XXL
See more results »
Idioms
get real!
is he/she for real?
real
adverb
mainly US informal
UK
/rɪəl/ US
/ˈriː.əl/
very:
I like this homemade lemonade, it's real good!
It's real easy to do.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Linguistics: very & extreme
abjectly
absolutely
absolutely fabulous
abundantly
abundantly clear
beyond
enormously
exceedingly
extraordinarily
imagine
indeed
particularly
richly
showstopping
strongly held
stupefyingly
super
super-duper
totally
violently
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real
noun [C]
UK
/reɪˈɑːl/ US
/reɪˈɑːl/
plural reals or or reais UK/reɪˈaɪs/ US/reɪˈaɪs/
the standard unit of money used in Brazil:
The Brazilian real has gained 83 percent in value against the dollar.
The dam is expected to cost 9.5 billion reals.
More examples
Instead of paying 5,000 reals in taxes, I just pay 2,500.
A few reals can get you a statue of the Virgin of Aparecida.
The dollar once bought four Brazilian reals.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Currencies
Altcoin
ariary
bimetallism
bitcoin
buying power
coinage
decimal currency
escudo
franc
guilder
krone
lira
monometallic
monometallism
multi-currency
non-convertible
non-dollar
rouble
rupiah
traveller's cheque
See more results »
(Definition of real from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
real | AMERICAN DICTIONARY
real
adjective
US
/ˈri·əl, ril/
real adjective (ACTUAL)
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existing in fact; not imaginary:
There is a real possibility that he will lose his job.
This is a true story about real people.
real adjective (NOT FALSE)
being what it appears to be; genuine:
Are those flowers real or fake?
The chest of drawers is a real antique.
real adjective (VERY GREAT)
[ not gradable ]
very great or to a great degree:
He’s a real gentleman.
The current situation is a real mess.
Idiom
the real McCoy
real
adverb [ not gradable ]
infml
US
/ˈri·əl, ril/
real adverb [not gradable] (VERY GREAT)
in a very great way or to a great degree:
I get cold real easy.
It’s real nice to meet you.
(Definition of real from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
real | BUSINESS ENGLISH
real
adjective [ before noun ]
UK
/rɪəl/ US
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ECONOMICS
after considering the effects of inflation:
Wages rose by 2.9% last year, but real earnings still fell by 1.3%.
Japan's economy grew by 1.5% in real terms in the first quarter.
(Definition of real from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
EXAMPLES OF REAL
real
Chapter 13 discusses constraint programming over reals using interval constraint solving.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Finally, let us consider what happens when we move up to the reals.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The order will be induced by the standard ordering of the reals.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Tax rates did not exceed 0.05 reales per mazo and did not change throughout the period.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Denotations are included for integers, reals, booleans, characters and strings.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Since order on reals is undecidable, there is no simple uniformly applicable lattice meet operation that would always produce non-negative intervals as values.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
As this proof shows, there are infinitely many non-equivalent countably based domain representations of the reals.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Edalat uses the interval domain of reals, rather than the reals, as the values of the entries in his density matrices.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
However, during the 1770s it grows to 12 or 13 reales, to 14 reales in 1790, and it reaches 20 reales around 1800.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The price rises during the 1730s, and it reaches 11.5 reales in the 1740s, remaining there until 1750.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Interval constraint solving over reals has a number of subtleties which can trip up naive users and these are well explored.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Computers truncate, transforming reals and transcendentals into rational approximations.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The hacienda agreed to pay each labourer three reales per day, half the normal daily wage.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Sets satisfying these conditions include the reals, the rationals, and the rationals with finite binary expansions, the last being the smallest such set.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The collection of formal reals is extended by also allowing 'unsharp' elements, which we call partial reals.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of real
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of
