Power Tool: Dream vs. Fantasy vs. Reality

real

adjective

1 actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed: Julius Caesar was a real person | a story drawing on real events | her many illnesses, real and imaginary.

• used to emphasize the significance or seriousness of a situation or circumstance: there is a real danger of civil war | the competitive threat from overseas is very real.
• Philosophy relating to something as it is, not merely as it may be described or distinguished.

2 (of a substance or thing) not imitation or artificial; genuine: the earring was presumably real gold.

• true or actual: his real name is James | this isn't my real reason for coming.
• [ attrib. ] (of a person or thing) rightly so called; proper: he's my idea of a real man | Jamie is my only real friend.

3 [ attrib. ] informal complete; utter (used for emphasis): the tour turned out to be a real disaster.

4 [ attrib. ] adjusted for changes in the value of money; assessed by purchasing power: real incomes had fallen by 30 percent | an increase in real terms of 11.6 percent.

5 Law of fixed property (i.e., land and buildings), as distinct from personal property: he lost nearly all of his real holdings.

6 Mathematics (of a number or quantity) having no imaginary part. See imaginary.

7 Optics (of an image) of a kind in which the light that forms it actually passes through it; not virtual.

spider

noun

1 an eight-legged predatory arachnid with an unsegmented body consisting of a fused head and thorax and a rounded abdomen. Spiders have fangs that inject poison into their prey, and most kinds spin webs in which to capture insects. [Order Araneae, class Arachnida.]

• used in names of arachnids similar or related to the spider, e.g., sea spider, sun spider.

2 an object resembling a spider, especially one having numerous or prominent legs or radiating spokes.

• a cast-iron frying pan, originally made with legs for cooking on coals in a hearth.
• a long-legged rest for a billiard cue that can be placed over a ball without touching it.

3 Computing another term for crawler (sense 2)

They are real in the sense that they have been created, they are no longer imagined. Some people might argue that the spiders aren’t living, but that doesn’t make them less real. The war might not have really killed people, but the war did take place, in the movie. Review the definition of war.

war

noun

a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state: Japan declared war on Germany | the two countries had been at war for six years.

• a particular armed conflict: after the war, they immigrated to America.
• a state of competition, conflict, or hostility between different people or groups: she was at war with her parents | a price war among discount retailers.
• a sustained effort to deal with or end a particular unpleasant or undesirable situation or condition: the authorities are waging war against all forms of smuggling | a war on drugs.

verb (wars, warring, warred) [ no obj. ]

engage in a war: small states warred against each other | figurative : conflicting emotions warred within her.