surreality
Dreamlike, disorienting quality
Surreality is the quality of being surreal—dreamlike, bizarre, or defying ordinary logic.
The word describes experiences that feel disconnected from normal reality: The surreality of the empty Times Square during lockdown was unsettling.
It can also name the condition itself: living in a state of surreality.
Distinguished from unreality, which suggests something isn't real at all, surreality suggests something real but strange.
Relating to dreams
- reverieAbstracted, pleasant daydream
- phantasmagoriaShifting sequence of illusions
- tranceSemiconscious, unresponsive condition
- lucidMentally sharp and comprehensible
subconscious · somnolent · daydream · nightmare · visions · ethereal · phantom · spectral
Inducing altered perception
- deliriumAcute mental disorientation
- tripPlanned travel somewhere
- alteredChanged from before
- distortionTwisting from original state
synesthesia · kaleidoscopic · fractals · psilocybin · DMT · ayahuasca · mescaline · fever dream
Eerily beyond normal
- grotesqueDistorted, bizarre figure
- outlandishStrikingly weird or foreign-seeming
- freakishStrangely abnormal, disturbing
- anomalousDeviating from expected norms
weird · strange · peculiar · otherworldly · eerie · unsettling · disquieting · alien
Without coherent meaning
- illogicalContrary to valid reasoning
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
- incongruityLack of harmony
- irrationalLacking sound judgment
preposterous · ludicrous · Kafkaesque · Dali · Magritte · disjointed · non-sequitur · Ionesco
Atmospheric optical deception
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- phantasmagoricBizarrely dreamlike and shifting
- chimericalImaginary and unrealistic
- imaginaryExisting only in thought
apparition · holographic · simulated · virtual · Baudrillard · simulacrum · artificial · false
oneiric
Relating to dreams
- reverieAbstracted, pleasant daydream
- phantasmagoriaShifting sequence of illusions
- tranceSemiconscious, unresponsive condition
lucid · subconscious · somnolent · daydream · nightmare · visions · ethereal · phantom · spectral · liminal
psychedelic
Inducing altered perception
distortion · synesthesia · kaleidoscopic · fractals · psilocybin · DMT · ayahuasca · mescaline · fever dream · hallucination
uncanny
Eerily beyond normal
- grotesqueDistorted, bizarre figure
- outlandishStrikingly weird or foreign-seeming
- freakishStrangely abnormal, disturbing
anomalous · weird · strange · peculiar · otherworldly · eerie · unsettling · disquieting · alien · warped
nonsensical
Without coherent meaning
- illogicalContrary to valid reasoning
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
- incongruityLack of harmony
irrational · preposterous · ludicrous · Kafkaesque · Dali · Magritte · disjointed · non-sequitur · Ionesco · Beckett
mirage
Atmospheric optical deception
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- phantasmagoricBizarrely dreamlike and shifting
- chimericalImaginary and unrealistic
imaginary · apparition · holographic · simulated · virtual · Baudrillard · simulacrum · artificial · false · deceptive
surrealityreality
What actually exists
normalcy · mundanity · ordinariness · normality · banality
surrealityrealism
Accepting things as they are
naturalism · verisimilitude · social realism · photorealism · neorealism
surrealitylucidity
Clearness of mind
sobriety · clear-headedness · rationality · wakefulness · presence
- surrealist movementArt rejecting rational reality
- surrealist imageryIllogical visual compositions
- surrealist filmMovie rejecting conventional narrative
surrealism, surrealist, surrealistic, surrealists, surrealistically