Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Actually happening or having happened; not fictional.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective As happens in real life; not fictional.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the movies it has been hit by meteors and attacked by alien spaceships but now Los Angeles is preparing for what officials are describing as a real-life "Carmageddon."

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011

  • In the movies it has been hit by meteors and attacked by alien spaceships but now Los Angeles is preparing for what officials are describing as a real-life "Carmageddon."

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011

  • Mr Prodromou, who has been described as a real-life Crocodile Dundee, said he hoped to convince people to listen to him.

    Evening Standard - Home Tony Bonnici 2012

  • The story referred to real-life bellboy Johnny Roventini of Brooklyn, who was discovered in 1933 by adman Milton Biow at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan.

    THE REAL PEPSI CHALLENGE Stephanie Capparell 2007

  • In the beginning, it was used exclusively for sports stories and a lot of people were skeptical - namely, real-life sports journalists.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • The Wolfman - described as a real-life Rambo - was previously been hunted by police after it emerged he had turned to petty crime to survive the harsh winter in the woodlands near Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph Telegraph Staff 2012

  • The partners, Jerry and Jeremiah Pasternak, are being described as a real-life "Sanford and Son."

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • At the battle’s start Zeus sent a rainstorm of blood, which might refer to the real-life phenomenon of showers that deposit red dust carried from the Sahara Desert, still seen in the Aegean today.

    The Trojan War Barry Strauss 2006

  • At the battle’s start Zeus sent a rainstorm of blood, which might refer to the real-life phenomenon of showers that deposit red dust carried from the Sahara Desert, still seen in the Aegean today.

    The Trojan War Barry Strauss 2006

  • The aim is to use the story of the real-life Mizner brothers as a metaphor for America.

    Road Show – review 2011

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