Meanings
comparative more unrealistically · superlative most unrealistically
- In an unrealistic manner.
1 more example
“It’s the Lake Wobegon effect,” said Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy, senior author and a professor of medicine and ethics at the University of Chicago. “If you have more than 50 percent of patients saying their chances are better than average of avoiding some harm or obtaining some benefit, they are being unrealistically optimistic because you can’t say that most people are above average.”
2011 March 3, Pauline W. Chen, quoting Daniel P. Sulmasy, “When Optimism Is Unrealistic”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 10 Jun 2021
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbin an unrealistic manner
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Proto-Indo-European*(H)reh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*(H)reh₁ís
- Proto-Italic*reis
- Classical Latinrēs
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Late Latinreālis
- Old Frenchree
- Middle Englishreal
- Englishreal
- Englishrealist
- Englishrealistic
- Englishunrealistic
- Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
- Proto-Germanic*līką
- Englishunrealistically
From unrealistic + -ally.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish epätodenmukaisesti, epärealistisesti
- epätodenmukaisestiin an unrealistic manner
- epärealistisestiin an unrealistic manner
Polish nierealistycznie
- nierealistyczniein an unrealistic manner
Swedish orealistiskt
- orealistisktin an unrealistic manner
Cite this entry
unrealistically. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unrealistically
“unrealistically.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unrealistically. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unrealistically,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unrealistically.
Source: unrealistically on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.