real 1
— realness , n.
/ree"euhl, reel/ , adj.
1. true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent: the real reason for an act.
2. existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or fictitious: a story taken from real life.
3. being an actual thing; having objective existence; not imaginary: The events you will see in the film are real and not just made up.
4. being actually such; not merely so-called: a real victory.
5. genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic: a real antique; a real diamond; real silk.
6. unfeigned or sincere: real sympathy; a real friend.
7. Informal. absolute; complete; utter: She's a real brain.
8. Philos.
a. existent or pertaining to the existent as opposed to the nonexistent.
b. actual as opposed to possible or potential.
c. independent of experience as opposed to phenomenal or apparent.
9. (of money, income, or the like) measured in purchasing power rather than in nominal value: Inflation has driven income down in real terms, though nominal income appears to be higher.
10. Optics. (of an image) formed by the actual convergence of rays, as the image produced in a camera (opposed to virtual ).
11. Math.
a. of, pertaining to, or having the value of a real number.
b. using real numbers: real analysis; real vector space.
adv.
12. Informal. very or extremely: You did a real nice job painting the house.
n.
13. See real number .
14. for real , Informal.
a. in reality; actually: You mean she dyed her hair green for real?
b. real; actual: The company's plans to relocate are for real.
c. genuine; sincere: I don't believe his friendly attitude is for real.
15. the real ,
a. something that actually exists, as a particular quantity.
b. reality in general.
[ 1400-50; late ME realis, equiv. to L re-, var. s. of res thing + -alis -AL 1 ]
Syn. 1-5. REAL, ACTUAL, TRUE in general use describe objects, persons, experiences, etc., that are what they are said or purport to be. That which is described as REAL is genuine as opposed to counterfeit, false, or merely supposed: a real emerald; real leather binding; My real ambition is to be a dentist. ACTUAL usually stresses contrast with another state of affairs that has been proposed or suggested: The actual cost is much less; to conceal one's actual motive. TRUE implies a perfect correspondence with actuality and is in direct contrast to that which is false or inaccurate: a true account of the events; not bravado but true courage. See also authentic .
Usage . The intensifying adverb REAL, meaning "very," is informal and limited to speech or to written representations of speech: He drives a real beat-up old car. The adjective REAL meaning "true, actual, genuine, etc.," is standard in all types of speech and writing: Their real reasons for objecting became clear in the discussion. The informal adjective sense "absolute, complete" is also limited to speech or representations of speech: These interruptions are a real bother.
real 2
/ray ahl"/ ; Sp. /rdde ahl"/ , n. , pl. reals /ray ahlz"/ , Sp. reales /rdde ah"les/ .
a former silver coin of Spain and Spanish America, the eighth part of a peso.
[ 1605-15; regalis REGAL ]
real 3
/ray ahl"/ ; Port. /rdde ahl"/ , n.
sing. of reis .