ENGLISH
REFERENCE

IRL

adv. sent.
B2 Upper Intermediate irl

adv. Stands for in real life. In the real world, rather than on the internet or in a game. You use this when you meet someone in person after talking to them online.

adv. Abbreviation for in real life. Used to distinguish between physical existence and digital or virtual environments. An abbreviation that functions as a sentence-modifying or manner-modifying element.


SIMPLE

We should meet up IRL sometime.

CONTEXTUAL

They have been friends on social media for years, but they finally met IRL at a conference last week.

COMPLEX

While her online persona is incredibly outgoing and loud, she is actually quite shy and soft-spoken when you interact with her IRL.

Origin

Initialisms and abbreviations.

Usage

Commonly used in digital communication; it can be placed at the end of a sentence or used as a standalone modifier.

© 2026 English Reference