as in irrational
very strange or unusual; having the quality of a dream
a surreal atmosphere at the festival The whole situation was completely surreal.
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Recent Examples of surreal
Li’s journey is a kaleidoscope of, at times surreal, encounters.
—
Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 6 Feb. 2026
The brand is known for its avant-garde silhouettes, surreal aesthetics and theatrical runway moments.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 6 Feb. 2026
The sequence is also absurd, surreal, even funny in places.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 5 Feb. 2026
The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation.
—Wcco Staff, CBS News, 4 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 6 Feb. 2026
The brand is known for its avant-garde silhouettes, surreal aesthetics and theatrical runway moments.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 6 Feb. 2026
The sequence is also absurd, surreal, even funny in places.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 5 Feb. 2026
The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation.
—Wcco Staff, CBS News, 4 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for surreal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surreal
Adjective
-
Away from the irrational exuberance, there are still sensible investments to be made.—
Mikael Johnsson,
Fortune,
6 Feb. 2026
-
The move would be both economically irrational and morally obtuse.—
Ruth Jean-Marie,
Time,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
By the letter of the current weird law, yes, the officials got it right, but the law is a problem here because Haaland’s reaction should surely not define how the sequence is viewed.—
Simon Hughes,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
-
But hey, this was the '90s, when being weird for weird's sake was a thing, and a creepy animatronic penguin lurking in the shadows and terrorizing humans in a variety of '90s-ish noir settings is definitely that.—
Debby Wolfinsohn,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
In a strange twist, the Max app was developed by VKontakte (VK), which Durov co-founded before selling his shares and leaving Russia in 2014, after Durov said the Kremlin had asked the site to hand over Ukrainian users’ data.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Paul, the polarizing boxer, has been no stranger to showing emotion.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures.—
Eve Chen,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Those are clear violations of the Fourth Amendment’s safeguards against unreasonable searches and seizures, which were adopted to prevent the exercise of arbitrary government power.—
Yohuru Williams,
The Conversation,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Straight men, in particular, are only talked about, kept in the background, or appearing as authority figures trying to uphold absurd laws and traditions.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Pepsi’s chart is absurd and someone’s going to look stupid when the momentum fades.—
Josh Brown,Sean Russo,
CNBC,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
That unusual role for a spy chief raised additional questions from Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees.—
DAVID KLEPPER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
5 Feb. 2026
-
What was unusual, in Lublin’s view, was for Bessent to reveal his thoughts on monetary policy — normally the purview of the Federal Reserve — and his insistence that Trump has the right to interfere with the decision-making of the central bank.—
Fatima Hussein,
Fortune,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
So, wins were not a meaningless line on the stat sheet in King Félix’s heyday — but the voters in this election seemed to have a different take.—
Jayson Stark,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2026
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But for current and past dog parents, that sentiment is far from meaningless.—
Anna Halkidis,
Parents,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Bainbridge knew about secrets and unreasoning shame.—
Christopher Tayler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done.—
Frederick Douglass,
The Atlantic,
16 Aug. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Surreal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surreal. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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