• enPR: rēəl, riəl, rēl, IPA: /ˈɹiːəl/, /ɹɪə̯l/, /ɹiːl/

real (comparative realer, superlative realest)

1. True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
2. Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.

   This is real leather.

3. Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 9”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Whose perfection farr excell’d Hers in all real dignitie

   These are real tears!

4. Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.

   a description of real life

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 7”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     I waked, and found / Before mine eyes all real, as the dream / Had lively shadowed.

5. That has objective, physical existence.

   No one has ever seen a real unicorn.

6. (economics) Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).

   My dad calculated my family's real consumption per month.

   What is the real GNP of this polity?

7. (economics) Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
8. (mathematics, of a number) Being either a rational number, or the limit of a convergent infinite sequence of rational numbers: being one of a set of numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line.
9. (legal) Relating to immovable tangible property.

   real estate;  real property

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Cunning

     Many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business.

10. Absolute, complete, utter.

    This is a real problem.

11. (slang) Signifying meritorious qualities or actions especially as regard the enjoyment of life, prowess at sports, or success wooing potential partners.

    I'm keeping it real.

• (true, genuine) true, actual
• (genuine, not artificial) authentic, genuine, actual
• (genuine, unfeigned) authentic, genuine, heartfelt, true, actual
• (that has physical existence) actual

• (true, genuine) imaginary, non-real, unreal
• (genuine, not artificial) artificial, counterfeit, fake, sham
• (genuine, unfeigned) feigned, sham, staged
• (that has physical existence) fictitious, imaginary, made-up, pretend (informal)
• (relating to numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line) imaginary

• French: réel, vrai
• German: wahr, wirklich, echt
• Italian: reale, vero
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: настоя́щий
• Spanish: real

• French: vrai
• German: echt, wirklich
• Italian: vero
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: настоя́щий

• French: vrai
• German: echt
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: настоя́щий

• French: vrai
• German: real
• Italian: vero
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: реа́льный

• French: réel
• German: reell
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: действи́тельный

• Russian: недви́жимый

• French: vrai
• German: echt, typisch
• Italian: vero
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: настоя́щий

real (not comparable)

1. (US, colloquial) Really, very.

   When I told him the truth, he got real mad.

real (plural reals)

1. A commodity; see realty.
2. (grammar) One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
3. (mathematics) A real number.

   • There have been several classical constructions of the reals that avoid these problems, the most famous ones being Dedekind Cuts and Cauchy Sequences, named respectively for the mathematicians Richard Dedekind (1831 - 1916) and Augustine Cauchy (1789 - 1857). We will not discuss these constructions here, but will use a more modern one developed by Gabriel Stolzenberg, based on "interval arithmetic."

4. (obsolete) A realist.

• (British) enPR: rāäl', IPA: /ɹeɪˈɑːl/
• (America) enPR: rāäl', IPA: /ɹeɪˈɑl/

real (plural reales)

1. Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies.
2. A coin worth one real.

• French: réal
• Russian: реа́л
• Spanish: real

• (British) enPR: rāäl', IPA: /ɹeɪˈɑːl/
• (America) enPR: rāäl', IPA: /ɹeɪˈɑl/

real

1. A unit of currency used in Portugal and its colonies from 1430 until 1911, and in Brazil from 1790 until 1942.
2. A coin worth one real.

   real (plural reais)

3. A unit of currency used in Brazil since 1994. Symbol: R$.
   • 2011, Perry Anderson, "Lula's Brazil", London Review of Books, 33.VII:

     Within weeks of this bombshell, an aide to the brother of the chairman of the PT, José Genoino, was arrested boarding a flight with 200,000 reais in a suitcase and $100,000 in his underpants.

4. A coin worth one real.

• (old Portuguese and Brazilian unit of currency) rei

• regal
• royal
• milreis

• Portuguese: real

• French: réal
• German: Real
• Portuguese: real
• Russian: реа́л
• Spanish: real

• Russian: реа́л

1. Real Madrid, a football club from Madrid.