Basic Details
Word: Unreal
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Not real, or so strange or wonderful that it seems as if it cannot be really happening.
Synonyms: imaginary, dreamlike, fanciful
Antonyms: real, actual, genuine
Sounds like: unreel (to unwind thread, string or film from a reel)
How to Spell Unreal
Syllables: un - real
Tricky part: There is one n and the vowels are ea, as in real. Students swap them (unrael) or double the n.
Watch out for: unrael, unnreal, unreale
Memory tip: Un means not, so unreal is simply not + real, with a single n. Keep it apart from unreel, which is about thread on a reel.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The fog over the lake made the whole valley look unreal.
Example 2: Winning the inter-school quiz still feels unreal to me.
Example 3: The dragons in the film looked frightening but were clearly unreal.
Fun Fact
In everyday talk people often use unreal as praise, as in That catch was unreal, meaning so good it was hard to believe.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word unreal as it is used in the sentence:
The glowing caves looked so unreal that we had to touch the damp walls to believe our eyes.
a) imaginary
b) dreamlike
c) strange
d) genuine
Show answer
d) genuine. Imaginary, dreamlike and strange all lean towards unreal; genuine means truly real.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. rythm 2. mischievious 3. seperate 4. unreal
a) fond of playing tricks and causing small trouble
b) kept apart; not joined together
c) so strange it seems not to be really happening
d) a regular, repeated pattern of beats
Show answer
c) so strange it seems not to be really happening. Mischievous has no i after v, separate has a in the middle, and rhythm needs an h after the r.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The drone show above the Sabarmati riverfront on Republic Day was so unrael that nobody in our group spoke for a full minute.
a) minute
b) nobody
c) unrael
d) riverfront
Show answer
c) unrael. The second part is the word real, with e before a.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word sounds like unreal but means to unwind thread?
a) unreel
b) unravel
c) unroll
d) unwind
Show answer
a) unreel
2. Which of these would most people call unreal?
a) a bus stopping at a stop
b) a crow sitting on a wall
c) a dragon flying over Delhi
d) a dog barking at night
Show answer
c) a dragon flying over Delhi
