hyperreality

H4Y4P3E1R1R1E1A1L1I1T1Y4

noun

The state or condition of being hyperreal.

OriginEnglish reality ← French réalité ← Medieval Latin reālitā →
Scrabble 23
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Meanings

nounhyperreality (countable and uncountable, plural hyperrealities)

plural hyperrealities

  1. countableuncountableThe state or condition of being hyperreal.

    What Tarantino captured was something that was accelerating across all popular culture: not reality, but a kind of hyperreality, where the secondary meaning always mattered more than the first.

    2022, Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN
  2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures.
  3. countableuncountableHyperrealism.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Hellenic*hupér
  4. Ancient Greekῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér)
  5. Ancient Greekῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)
  6. Englishhyper-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*(H)reh₁-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*(H)reh₁ís
  9. Proto-Italic*reis
  10. Classical Latinrēs
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  13. Latinreālis
  14. Medieval Latinreālitā
  15. Frenchréalité
  16. Englishreality
  17. Englishhyperreality

From hyper- + reality.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Polish hiperrzeczywistość
  • hiperrzeczywistośćphilosophical concept
Cite this entry
APA

hyperreality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperreality

MLA

“hyperreality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperreality. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hyperreality,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperreality.

Source: hyperreality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.