irrealis

Learned borrowing from New Latin irreālis (“intangible, immaterial”), from Latin in- (“un-: not”) + reālis (“real, material, composed of physical things”), from res (“thing”) + -ālis (“-al: forming adjectives”). Doublet of irreal.

• IPA^(key): /ɪɹiˈɑːlɪs/, /ɪɹiˈælɪs/, /ɪˈɹiəlɪs/
• Hyphenation: ir‧real‧is

irrealis (not comparable)

1. (grammar, of a verb) inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is not a fact.

• irrealis mood

irrealis (plural irrealises)

1. (grammar) An irrealis construct.
   • 2023, Kasia M. Jaszczolt, Understanding Human Time, page 170:

     […] then it would make sense to view Australian past irrealises as TAM forms combining a modal stative predicate (conveying e.g. a capacity, expectation, or desire state) with a past imperfective content.

• lairiser