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surrealism

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sur⋅re⋅al⋅ism

  [suh-ree-uh-liz-uhm]
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–noun (sometimes initial capital letter)
a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.
Origin:
1920–25; < F surréalisme. See sur- 1 , realism

Related forms:
sur⋅re⋅al⋅ist, noun, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sur·re·al·ism   (sə-rē'ə-lĭz'əm)   
n.  

  1. A 20th-century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter.

  2. Literature or art produced in this style.


[French surréalisme : sur-, beyond (from Old French; see sur-) + réalisme, realism (from réalité, realism, from Medieval Latin reālitās, from reālis, real; see real1).]
sur·re'al·ist n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

surrealism

A movement in art and literature that flourished in the early twentieth century. Surrealism aimed at expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control. Salvador Dali was an influential surrealist painter; Jean Cocteau was a master of surrealist film.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

surrealism 
1927, from Fr. surréalisme (from sur- "beyond" + réalisme "realism"), coined c.1917 by Guillaume Apollinaire, taken over by Andre Breton as the name of the movement he launched in 1924 with "Manifeste de Surréalisme." Taken up in Eng. at first in the Fr. form; the anglicized version is from 1931; surreal is a 1936 back-formation.
"De cette alliance nouvelle, car jusqu'ici les décors et les costumes d'une part, la chorégraphie d'autre part, n'avaient entre eux qu'un lien factice, il este résulté, dans 'Parade,' une sorte de surréalisme." [Apollinaire, "Notes to 'Parade' "]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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