{"id":9221,"date":"2022-09-16T21:55:44","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T21:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=9221"},"modified":"2022-09-16T21:55:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T21:55:44","slug":"surreal-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/surreal-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Surreal \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Did a friend tell you that they think the entire experience of going to a concert seems <strong><em>surreal<\/em><\/strong>? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The word<em> \u2018surreal\u2019<\/em> refers to a <u>life experience that seems challenging to understand or strange.<\/u> The experience may <u>feel dream-like to the person<\/u> and can describe <u>positive or negative situations<\/u>. For instance, it might seem surreal if you\u2019re being robbed at gunpoint.<\/p>\n<p>If your boss promotes you unexpectedly at work, it could also be a surreal experience. If something is surreal, it\u2019s <u>marked by a sense of irrationality and confusion<\/u>, like you don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening around you. You may feel like <u>you can\u2019t believe what\u2019s happening and want to pinch yourself to see if you\u2019re dreaming.<\/u><\/p>\n<p>If something is surreal, <u>it\u2019s hard to believe<\/u>. You\u2019ll <u>feel mental resistance against accepting it in your consciousness.<\/u><\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis is all so surreal to me. I can\u2019t believe this is all taking place right now. It\u2019s like something out of a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is one heck of a surreal experience. I need to pinch myself to see if I\u2019m dreaming. I just can\u2019t believe this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe feeling at the meeting was surreal. It\u2019s like no one there knew what they were doing or what they were there to accomplish. I\u2019ve never experienced anything like that in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis whole vacation is surreal to me. I know I\u2019m here and having the time of my life, but it feels like I\u2019m dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis situation is surreal. I don\u2019t know how things went the way they did, but somehow, I got what I wanted out of the negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is so surreal. One week I have a happy family; the next, they leave me. I can\u2019t believe this is happening to me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is all so surreal. I can\u2019t believe I got accepted to Harvard. I had a dream last night that I received my welcoming letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything seems surreal like it's not really there. I feel like I\u2019m spaced out, and none of this is really taking place around me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis entire experience was so surreal. I keep wondering if it was all a dream or if I was really there. These kinds of experiences always play with my mind for days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9223\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal.jpg 388w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9224\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal2-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal2-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Surreal2.jpg 388w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The term \u2018surreal\u2019 originates from the French word \u2018surr\u00e9alisme,\u2019 meaning \u2018beyond realism.\u2019 Guillaume Apollinaire coined the word in 1917, with Andre Breton using it as the name for the movement he started in 1924, \u2018Manifeste de Surr\u00e9alisme.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Surreal\u2019 entered the English lexicon in 1927 as the French spelling before changing to the current version in 1931. Guillaume Apollinaire used the term in his work \u2018Notes to Parade,\u2019 where it appears as follows in the French spelling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDe cette alliance nouvelle, car jusqu'ici les d\u00e9cors et les costumes d'une part, la chor\u00e9graphie d'autre part, n'avaient entre eux qu'un lien factice, il este r\u00e9sult\u00e9, dans 'Parade,' une sorte de surr\u00e9alisme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\ud83d\udd35 Surreal - Surreal Meaning - Surreal Examples - Surrealism\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uG3z_qB7Rq8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Surreal<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Unreal<\/li>\n<li>Bizarre<\/li>\n<li>Unusual<\/li>\n<li>Weird<\/li>\n<li>Uncanny<\/li>\n<li>Dreamlike<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Surreal<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Realistic.<\/li>\n<li>natural.<\/li>\n<li>sincere.<\/li>\n<li>genuine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Surreal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Surreal Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The term \u2018surreal\u2019 describes a situation that feels unreal or difficult to comprehend. It doesn\u2019t refer to realistic objects or full consciousness where you\u2019re aware of your surroundings.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Surreal<\/h2>\n<p>You can use \u2018surreal\u2019 to describe an experience that feels real but is strange and challenging to understand. It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re in a dream state but fully conscious of what\u2019s happening around you. You can use surreal in professional and social conversations. For instance, you could use it at work to describe how receiving a promotion seems surreal.<\/p>\n<p>You could use it at home when describing a situation that seems unbelievable or impossible to fathom. If something is surreal, it\u2019s hard to believe and seems like a dream. The phrase suits verbal exchanges and text conversations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Did a friend tell you that they think the entire experience of going to a concert seems surreal? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The word \u2018surreal\u2019 refers to a life experience that seems challenging to understand or strange. The experience may feel dream-like to the person and can describe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9226,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9221\/revisions\/9226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}