variants
or antirealism
: opposition to or deliberate eschewal of realism especially in art and literature
There are as many different varieties of antirealism as there are of realism—perhaps more.—
Michael Boyd
Michael Boyd
anti-realist
noun
or antirealist
Nineteenth-century antirealists invented various kinds of fantasy in order to free imagination from rational skepticism and diminish the reality principle's hold on narrative.
—Robert Higbie
Robert Higbie
Examples of anti-realism in a Sentence
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This group was anti-realism and pro spirituality, imagination, and dreams and used suggestion, signs, and images to get their message across.
—Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 11 July 2024
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Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 11 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“Anti-realism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-realism. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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