irreal

Irreal is an adjective used to describe things that are not real or do not exist in the physical world, or that belong to a domain of thought, discourse, or representation rather than to actual reality. In literary and philosophical contexts, irreal elements may be dreamlike, fantastical, paradoxical, or otherwise features that challenge conventional notions of what is real while still presenting significance within a narrative or argument.

The term is less common than unreal or imaginary, and its use tends to be specialized. It frequently appears in analysis of fiction, dream theory, surrealism, and thought experiments, where authors or critics want to emphasize a tension between what is described or imagined and what can be verified or experienced in the real world. Irreal can signal that a scene, object, or proposition functions within a discourse as if real, even though it does not correspond to actual existence outside that discourse.

In practice, describing something as irreal highlights a misleading or unstable boundary between reality and representation. It can point to a process by which the real is distorted, mediated, or deferred through narrative, perception, or concept. Related terms include unreal, imaginary, fictional, and surreal, each capturing different shades of not-real in criticism and theory.

See also: irrealism, unrealism, surrealism, imaginary, fiction.