# IRL

Pronunciation: say "y-ahr-EL" US /ˌaɪ ɑɹ ˈɛl/, UK /ˌaɪ ɑː(ɹ) ˈɛl/

## Adverb

1. Initialism of in real life. — Initialism of in real life (as opposed to online).
   - Simple: Initialism of in real life. Use it to talk about things that happen offline, not on the internet.
   - _After three years of trading messages, the two writers finally met IRL at a book festival._
   - _He's much shyer IRL than his confident posts suggest._

## Adjective

2. Existing or taking place in real life, as distinct from online.
   - Simple: Happening or existing in real life, not just on the internet.
   - _The forum organized its first IRL meetup at a coffee shop downtown._
   - _Many streamers keep their IRL identities separate from their online personas._

## Noun

3. A real-life friend; a person known in person rather than only online.
   - Simple: A friend you know in person, not only on the internet.
   - _Most of his IRLs have no idea he runs a popular channel._
   - _It's rare for an IRL to show up in my online friend group._

## Proper noun

4. Initialism of Indy Racing League. — Initialism of Indy Racing League.
   - Simple: Initialism of Indy Racing League. A short name for an American car racing group.
   - _Several top teams eventually left CART to race in the IRL._
   - _The IRL made the Indianapolis 500 the centerpiece of its schedule._

## Origin

Initialisms and abbreviations.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/irl (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).