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surrealism.

An artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/səˈɹiː(.ə)l.ɪz.əm/UK/syːˈɹiː(.ə)l.ɪz.əm/UK
  1. An artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Art with a surreal aesthetic or narrative, regardless of whether or not it is linked to the surrealist movement.

    countable · informal · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super- Old French sur- French sur- Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁ís Proto-Italic *reis Classical Latin rēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Late Latin reālisder. Old French reel Middle French real French réel Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)bor. Latin -ismusbor. French -isme French réalisme French surréalismebor. English surrealism Borrowed from French surréalisme. By surface analysis, sur- + realism or surreal + -ism.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.