IRL
IRL means “in real life.” It separates the physical world from the online one: meeting someone IRL means meeting them in person.
What does IRL mean?
IRL is short for “in real life.” People use it to talk about things that happen offline, as opposed to on the internet, in games or on social media. Friends who met in a game might say they finally hung out IRL. Someone might say a celebrity looks different IRL than in photos.
It’s also used, half-jokingly, for moments when online behaviour spills into daily life: “I said ‘lol’ out loud IRL.”
How to use IRL
- “We’ve been friends online for years but never met IRL.”
- “The shoes look way better IRL than in the photos.”
- “Is the streamer as funny IRL?”
- “I literally gasped IRL.”
IRL streams and “real life” debates
On Twitch and similar platforms, an “IRL stream” is a broadcast that isn’t gaming: walking around a city, cooking or just chatting. Some people find the term a bit dated, since for many of us online life is real life too. That’s why you’ll also see “offline” or “in person” used instead.
Where IRL comes from
IRL is one of the older internet abbreviations, from the era of chat rooms, forums and multiplayer games, when the line between “online” and “real life” felt sharper than it does now. Its first use isn’t documented.
Related terms
See more terms like this in our texting abbreviations guide.
Example sentence
We met on a Discord server and finally met IRL last summer.
Similar words
in person, offline, face to face
Notes
Spotted a mistake, or heard IRL used a different way? Tell us and we'll check it. Read how we write entries.