What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Real vs Meal - What's the difference?

real | meal |

As nouns the difference between real and meal

is that real is a commodity; see reality while meal is (food that is prepared and eaten)Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time (e.g. breakfast = morning meal, lunch = noon meal, etc).

As an adjective real

is true, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.

As an adverb real

is really, very.

As a proper noun Real

is Real Madrid, a football club from Madrid.

As a verb meal is

to defile or taint.

real

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) reel, from .

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
  • * 2007 , Jim Kokoris, The Rich Part of Life: A Novel (ISBN 1429976438), page 179:
  • [T]he real reason he didn't come was because he was scared of flying[.]
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
  • Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
  • * Milton:
  • Whose perfection far excelled / Hers in all real dignity.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you
  • Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
  • a description of real life
  • * Milton:
  • I waked, and found / Before mine eyes all real , as the dream / Had lively shadowed.
  • That has objective, physical existence.
  • (economics) Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power .
  • (economics) Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
  • (mathematics, of a number) Being either a rational number, or the limit of a convergent infinite sequence of rational numbers: being one of a set of numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line.
  • (legal) Relating to immovable tangible property.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business.
  • Absolute, complete, utter.
  • (slang)
  • Synonyms
    * true, actual * authentic, genuine, actual * authentic, genuine, heartfelt, true, actual * (that has physical existence) actual
    Antonyms
    * imaginary, unreal * artificial, counterfeit, fake, sham * feigned, sham, staged * (that has physical existence) fictitious, imaginary, made-up, pretend (informal) * (relating to numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line) imaginary
    Derived terms
    * for real * get real * keep it real * real analysis * real asset * real axis * real body * real capital * real deal/the real deal * real estate * real focus * real image * real income * reality * real life * real line * really * real market * real matrix * real McCoy * realness * real number * real option * real part * real presence * real property * real return * real soon now * real storage * real stuff * real tennis * real thing/the real thing * real time * real-valued * real variable * real wages * real world/real-world

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (US, colloquial) Really, very.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A commodity; see reality.
  • (grammar) One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
  • (mathematics) A real number.
  • *
  • There have been several classical constructions of the reals that avoid these prob-
    lems, the most famous ones being Dedekind Cuts'' and ''Cauchy Sequences , named
    respectively for the mathematicians Richard Dedekind (1831 - 1916) and Augustine
    Cauchy (1789 - 1857). We will not discuss these constructions here, but will use a
    more modern one developed by Gabriel Stolzenberg, based on "interval arithmetic."
  • (obsolete) A realist.
  • (Burton)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (reales)
  • Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies.
  • A coin worth one real.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

  • A unit of currency used in Portugal and its colonies from 1430 until 1911, and in Brazil from 1790 until 1942
  • A coin worth one real.
  • Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A unit of currency used in Brazil since 1994. Symbol: .
  • * 2011 , Perry Anderson, "Lula's Brazil", London Review of Books , 33.VII:
  • Within weeks of this bombshell, an aide to the brother of the chairman of the PT, José Genoino, was arrested boarding a flight with 200,000 reais in a suitcase and $100,000 in his underpants.
  • A coin worth one real.
  • Synonyms
    * (old Portuguese and Brazilian unit of currency)
    Meronyms
    * (current Brazilian unit of currency)

    Statistics

    *

    meal

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (senseid)Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time (e.g. breakfast = morning meal, lunch = noon meal, etc).
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • Food served or eaten as a repast.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=Anna Lena Phillips, volume=100, issue=2, page=172
  • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Sneaky Silk Moths , passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}
    Hyponyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * make a meal of * meal mob * meal station * meal ticket

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) mele, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (-)
  • The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal .}}
    Derived terms
    * mealy * cornmeal * oatmeal

    Etymology 3

    Variation of mole (compare (etyl) mail), from (etyl) mole, mool, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A speck or spot.
  • A part; a fragment; a portion.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To defile or taint.
  • Were he meal'd with that / Which he corrects, than were he tyrannous. ? Shakespeare.

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----