real world

• real-world with hyphen when used as a noun in apposition.

real world (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of real-world

real world (plural real worlds)

1. The realm of human experience comprising physical objects, and excluding theoretical constructs, hypotheses, artificial environments, and "virtual" worlds such as the Internet, computer simulations, or the imagination.

   It's time to relocate this experiment from the laboratory into the real world.

   • 2001, Peter Kent, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Internet, p. 243,

     If you’re not in business yet, but plan to launch an Internet business, you’ll ignore the real world at your peril. Notice that all the large Web businesses advertise in the real world.

   • 2003, John Vorhaus, Killer Poker Online,

     And again, real-world poker makes demands on a player that Internet poker does not. [...] Stamina, then, is an asset to your play in the real world.