Definition of SURREALIST (original) (raw)
1
: marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream
Did you know?
In 1924 a group of European poets, painters, and filmmakers founded a movement that they called Surrealism. Their central idea was that the unconscious mind (a concept Sigmund Freud had recently made famous) was the source of all imagination, and that art should try to express its contents. The unconscious, they believed, revealed itself most clearly in dreams. The Surrealist painters included René Magritte, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí, whose "limp watches" painting became the best-known Surrealist image of all. Since those years, we've used surreal to describe all kinds of situations that strike us as dreamlike. And even though the Surrealist movement ended long ago, surrealism now seems to be everywhere—not just in painting, literature, and movies but also in blogs, video games, and graphic novels.
Examples of surreal in a Sentence
Despite all the hassle, though, I would not want an ordinary name. I know of one other person in the world who shares my name, first and last. I know nothing about her except that she lived in New York at the same time I did, and that she and I subscribed to a few of the same publications. I found myself in the surreal position of having to explain to circulation departments that I was, in fact, me, and not that other version of me on the West Side. —
Johnna Kaplan, Newsweek, 3 Mar. 2008 Films aren't just a part of life for people in India; they are a way of life. The over-the-top, surreal dance numbers in nearly every Bollywood film often make no sense in relation to the story, but no one seems to be complaining. —Shashank Samant, The Out Traveler, May/June 2005 The movie achieves a truly rare mix of the absurd, the surreal, and the heartfelt. Improbably, its wacked-out premise and structural hilarity concoct a melancholy meditation on love, loss, and memory, while delivering a message—subversive to our culture's therapeutic optimism—about the tragedy of healing. —Rand Richards Cooper, Commonweal, 23 Apr. 2004
The whole thing was completely surreal.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Seal takes his namesake to new surreal heights in Mountain Dew‘s 2025 Super Bowl commercial. —Lauren Coates, Variety, 8 Feb. 2025 Eric Kohn, Green detailed the surreal process of working at the apex of the advertising industry. —Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 8 Feb. 2025 The surreal odyssey places Mark, Helly, Irving and Dylan on an ORTBO — that’s Outdoor Retreat and Team Building Occurrence, obviously — designed to strengthen their loyalty to Lumon. —Jen Chaney, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025 Don't squint your eyes too hard looking for Shania Twain in Coffee mate's surreal new Super Bowl spot. —Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for surreal 
Word History
Etymology
back-formation from surrealism
First Known Use
1937, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Time Traveler
The first known use of surreal was in 1937
Dictionary Entries Near surreal
Cite this Entry
“Surreal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surreal. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.
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Last Updated: 12 Feb 2025 - Updated example sentences
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