From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe real worldthe real worldused to talk about the difficult experience of living and working with other people, rather than being protected at home, at school, or at college the shock of leaving university and going out into the real world → real
Examples from the Corpus
the real world• Going outside would be a shock: I needed some time to decompress before facing the real world.• If the Prime Minister thinks that all that adds up to recovery, he is not living in the real world.• This is information that can be used in the real world.• My work is based on things remembered or imagined rather than the real world around me.• I sit at the bar and watch the real world go by.• In the real world, political work goes on whether or not the public takes an interest.• Experimentalists suggest that randomized assignment is much more possible in the real world than many people suspect.• In the real world things are more complex. 