real life

real life (plural real lives)

1. Life outside of a contrived or fantastical environment; often used in comparison to events depicted in drama.
   • 2011, Julia DeVillers, ‎Jennifer Roy, Take Two

     I knew it was just a silly quiz, but it was annoying that I couldn't even get a crush match in a magazine—or real life.

2. (by extension, sometimes capitalized) Life outside the Internet.
3. (by extension) Pressing day-to-day commitments.

   I kept meaning to look for a better-paying job, but real life intervened.

real life (not comparable)

1. Not fictional; actually happening or capable of happening.

• real-life

• real world
• meatspace