real

Etymology 1

From Middle English real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin reālis (“actual”), from Latin rēs (“matter, thing”), from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“wealth, goods”). Doublet of realis.

adj

1. True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
   [T]he real reason he didn't come was because he was scared of flying[.] 2007, Jim Kokoris, The Rich Part of Life: A Novel, page 179
   Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee. 2013-06-29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55
2. Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
   An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine. 2013-06-01, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)
   This is real leather.
3. Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
   The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you[…]"share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27
   These are real tears!
4. Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
   a description of real life
5. That has objective, physical existence.
   No one has ever seen a real unicorn.
6. (economics) Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).
   My dad calculated my family's real consumption per month.
   What is the real GNP of this polity?
7. (economics) Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
8. (mathematics, of a number) Being either a rational number, or the limit of a convergent infinite sequence of rational numbers: being one of a set of numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line.
9. (law) Relating to immovable tangible property.
   real estate; real property
10. Absolute, complete, utter.
    This is a real problem.
11. (slang) Signifying meritorious qualities or actions especially as regard the enjoyment of life, prowess at sports, or success wooing potential partners.
    I'm keeping it real.

adv

1. (US, colloquial) Really, very.
   When I told him the truth, he got real mad.

noun

1. A commodity; see realty.
2. (grammar) One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
3. (mathematics) A real number.
   There have been several classical constructions of the reals that avoid these problems, the most famous ones being Dedekind Cuts and Cauchy Sequences, named respectively for the mathematicians Richard Dedekind (1831 - 1916) and Augustine Cauchy (1789 - 1857). We will not discuss these constructions here, but will use a more modern one developed by Gabriel Stolzenberg, based on "interval arithmetic." 2007, Mark Bridges, REAL ANALYSIS: A Constructive Approach, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, page 11
4. (obsolete) A realist.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish real (“royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“regal, royal”). Doublet of regal and royal.

noun

1. Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies.
2. A coin worth one real.

Etymology 3

From Portuguese real (“royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“regal; royal”). Doublet of regal and royal.

noun

1. A unit of currency used in Portugal and its colonies from 1430 until 1911, and in Brazil from 1790 until 1942.
2. A coin worth one real.

noun

1. A unit of currency used in Brazil since 1994. Symbol: R$.
   Within weeks of this bombshell, an aide to the brother of the chairman of the PT, José Genoino, was arrested boarding a flight with 200,000 reais in a suitcase and $100,000 in his underpants. 2011, Perry Anderson, “Lula's Brazil”, in London Review of Books, 33.VII
2. A coin worth one real.