real life

See also: real-life

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

real life (countable and uncountable, plural real lives)

1. Life outside of a contrived or fantastical environment; often used in comparison to events depicted in drama.
2. A person or thing that exists in reality (vs. fictional).
   • 2011, Julia DeVillers, Jennifer Roy, Take Two:

     I knew it was just a silly quiz, but it was annoying that I couldn't even get a crush match in a magazine—or real life.

3. (by extension, sometimes capitalized) Life outside the Internet.
4. (by extension) Pressing day-to-day commitments.

   I kept meaning to look for a better-paying job, but real life intervened.

Derived terms

• real life experience
• IRL

Descendants

• → German: Reallife
• → Korean: 리얼라이프 (rieollaipeu)

Translations

life outside of a contrived or fantastical environment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 現實生活／现实生活 (xiànshí shēnghuó), 真實生命／真实生命 (zhēnshí shēngmìng)

• Dutch: het echte leven
• Finnish: tosielämä, todellisuus (fi)
• French: vie réelle (fr) f, vraie vie (fr) f
• German: wirkliches Leben n, Reallife (de) n
• Greek: πραγματικότητα (el) (pragmatikótita)
• Hungarian: való élet
• Icelandic: raunveruleiki (is) m
• Italian: vita reale f
• Japanese: 実生活 (じっせいかつ, jisseikatsu), 実際の生活 (じっさいのせいかつ, jissai no seikatsu)
• Korean: 리얼라이프 (rieollaipeu)
• Polish: życie (pl) n, (literally) prawdziwe życie (pl) n, real (pl) m
• Portuguese: vida real f
• Romanian: viața reală
• Russian: реа́льная жизнь f (reálʹnaja žiznʹ), реа́л (ru) m (reál)
• Spanish: vida real f
• Thai: ชีวิตจริง
• Turkish: gerçek hayat

See also

• real world
• meatspace