real

real¹

—realness, n.

/ree"euhl, reel/, adj.

1. true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent: the real reason for an act.

2. existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or fictitious: a story taken from real life.

3. being an actual thing; having objective existence; not imaginary: The events you will see in the film are real and not just made up.

4. being actually such; not merely so-called: a real victory.

5. genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic: a real antique; a real diamond; real silk.

6. unfeigned or sincere: real sympathy; a real friend.

7. Informal. absolute; complete; utter: She's a real brain.

8. Philos.

a. existent or pertaining to the existent as opposed to the nonexistent.

b. actual as opposed to possible or potential.

c. independent of experience as opposed to phenomenal or apparent.

9. (of money, income, or the like) measured in purchasing power rather than in nominal value: Inflation has driven income down in real terms, though nominal income appears to be higher.

10. Optics. (of an image) formed by the actual convergence of rays, as the image produced in a camera (opposed to virtual).

11. Math.

a. of, pertaining to, or having the value of a real number.

b. using real numbers: real analysis; real vector space.

adv.

12. Informal. very or extremely: You did a real nice job painting the house.

n.

13. See real number.

14. for real, Informal.

a. in reality; actually: You mean she dyed her hair green for real?

b. real; actual: The company's plans to relocate are for real.

c. genuine; sincere: I don't believe his friendly attitude is for real.

15. the real,

a. something that actually exists, as a particular quantity.

b. reality in general.

[1400-50; late ME < LL realis, equiv. to L re-, var. s. of res thing + -alis -AL¹]

Syn. 1-5. REAL, ACTUAL, TRUE in general use describe objects, persons, experiences, etc., that are what they are said or purport to be. That which is described as REAL is genuine as opposed to counterfeit, false, or merely supposed: a real emerald; real leather binding; My real ambition is to be a dentist. ACTUAL usually stresses contrast with another state of affairs that has been proposed or suggested: The actual cost is much less; to conceal one's actual motive. TRUE implies a perfect correspondence with actuality and is in direct contrast to that which is false or inaccurate: a true account of the events; not bravado but true courage. See also authentic.

Usage. The intensifying adverb REAL, meaning "very," is informal and limited to speech or to written representations of speech: He drives a real beat-up old car. The adjective REAL meaning "true, actual, genuine, etc.," is standard in all types of speech and writing: Their real reasons for objecting became clear in the discussion. The informal adjective sense "absolute, complete" is also limited to speech or representations of speech: These interruptions are a real bother.

real²

/ray ahl"/; Sp. /rdde ahl"/, n., pl. reals /ray ahlz"/, Sp. reales /rdde ah"les/.

a former silver coin of Spain and Spanish America, the eighth part of a peso.

[1605-15; < Sp: royal < L regalis REGAL]

real³

/ray ahl"/; Port. /rdde ahl"/, n.

sing. of reis.

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▪ Brazilian currency

  monetary unit of Brazil. Each real (plural: reais) is divided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil (Banco Central do Brasil) has the exclusive authority to issue banknotes and coins in Brazil. Coins are issued in denominations ranging from 1 centavo to 1 real. Banknotes are valued from 1 to 100 reais. The obverse of each banknote pictures a sculpture symbolizing the republic, with the exception of the 10-real note, which contains an image of Pedro Álvares Cabral (Cabral, Pedro Álvares), a Portuguese navigator who is considered to have been the first European to explore Brazil; the reverse sides are adorned with images of wildlife, including the crane (5-real note), the arara bird (10-real note), and the leopard (50-real note).

      In the 20th century, largely because of inflationary pressures, Brazil was forced to make many changes in its monetary system. From the colonial period through 1942, Brazil's monetary system was based on the reís, derived from the Portuguese real, which was the Portuguese currency in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1942 the reís was replaced by the cruzeiro. After several additional changes in the monetary system, the cruzado was established in the mid-1980s, though further economic instability led to its eventual demise. Further monetary systems were created and abolished until 1994, when the real was established, replacing its short-lived predecessor, the cruzeiro real (1993–94).

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