surrealism.

An artistic movement or approach using dreamlike, unexpected or irrational relations to explore experience beyond ordinary representation.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• literary surrealism
• surrealism in art

On the page

The exhibition related the unexpected juxtapositions to surrealism.

Literary surrealism shaped the passage’s transitions rather than its factual argument.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: artistic orientation, figurative interpretation, life writing, narrative knowledge. Disciplines: literary writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: moderately common.