reality

reality

See also: Reality

English

Etymology

From French réalité (“quality of being real”), from Middle French realité (“property, possession”), from Medieval Latin reālitās, from Late Latin reālis (“real”), equivalent to real +‎ -ity. Recorded since 1550 as a legal term in the sense of “fixed property” (compare real estate, realty); the sense “real existence” is attested from 1647. First attested in c. 1540.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹiˈælɪti/, /ɹiˈæləti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælɪti

Noun

reality (usually uncountable, plural realities)

1. The state of being actual or real; realness.

   The reality of the crash scene on TV dawned upon him only when he saw the victim was no actor but his friend.

   • 2019 January 7, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: Pattern Screamers”, in The Exploring Series‎, archived from the original on 11 January 2023, retrieved 11 January 2023, 0:11 from the start:

     While the SCP universe is, of course, filled with things that we would certainly not consider "real", most of the SCPs are tangible or perceivable in some way. There are those concepts, however, whose reality is debatable, even to the SCP Foundation, begging them to ask the question of what, exactly, is real.

2. The real world.
   • 1712 February 13 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “SATURDAY, February 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 291; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:

     A man very often fancies that he understands a critic, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828:

     As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, […]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. […] I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.

3. A real entity, event, or other fact.

   The ultimate reality of life is that it ends in death.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     And to realities yield all her shows.

   • 1770, James Beattie, Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth

     My neck, Sir, may be an idea to you, but to me it is a reality.

   • 2005 October 25, European Court of Human Rights, Wypych v. Poland‎, number 2428/05:

     Given the economic realities of contemporary Poland, a requirement to provide information on movable assets which exceed PLN 10,000 in value cannot be held to be excessive.

   • 2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19:

     It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today […].

4. The entirety of all that is real.
   • 2008 July 5, Russell T Davies; Graeme Harper, director, “Journey's End”, in Doctor Who, season 4 [30], episode 13, spoken by Davros (Julian Bleach):

     Across the entire Universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust. And the dust will become atoms and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The DESTRUCTION! Of REALITY! ITSELF!

5. An individual observer's own subjective perception of that which is real.
6. (obsolete) Loyalty; devotion.
   • 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], OCLC 1238111360:

     To express our reality to the emperor.

7. (law, obsolete) Realty; real estate.

Synonyms

• truth
• actuality

Antonyms

• fantasy

Hyponyms

• absolute reality
• augmented reality
• consensus reality
• hybrid reality
• mixed reality
• real reality
• virtual reality

 

Derived terms

• bite of the reality sandwich
• in reality
• mugged by reality
• reality-based
• reality bender
• reality challenged
• reality check
• reality distortion field
• reality pornography
• reality principle
• reality show
• reality television
• reality testing
• reality therapy
• reality TV
• reality warper

 

Related terms

• realia
• realism
• realization
• realize
• realty

 

Collocations

• harsh reality
• stark reality
• brutal reality
• grimreality
• bitter reality

Translations

state of being actual or real

Arabic: وَاقِع‎ m (wāqiʿ), حَقِيقَة‎ (ar) f (ḥaqīqa) Hijazi Arabic: حقيقة‎ f (ḥagīga), واقع‎ m (wāqiʿ) Armenian: իրականություն (hy) (irakanutʿyun) Assamese: দিঠক (dithok) Bashkir: ғәмәл (ğämäl), ысынбарлыҡ (ısınbarlıq) Belarusian: рэа́льнасць f (reálʹnascʹ), рэчаві́стасць f (rečavístascʹ), рэчаі́снасць (be) f (rečaísnascʹ), сапра́ўднасць f (sapráŭdnascʹ) Bengali হকিকত (bn) (hôkikôtô), সাচ্চাই (saccai) Bulgarian: действи́телност (bg) f (dejstvítelnost), реа́лност (bg) f (reálnost) Catalan: realitat (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 現實／现实 (zh) (xiànshí) Czech: skutečnost (cs) f Danish: virkelighed (da) c Dutch: werkelijkheid (nl) f, realiteit (nl) f Esperanto: realeco Faroese: veruleiki m Finnish: olemassaolo (fi) French: réalité (fr) f Georgian: სინამდვილე (sinamdvile), რეალობა (realoba) German: Wirklichkeit (de) f, Realität (de) f Greek: πραγματικότητα (el) f (pragmatikótita) Hebrew: מְצִיאוּת‎ (he) f (metzi'út), ממשות‎ (he) f (mamashút) Hindi: सच्चाई (hi) f (saccāī), यथार्थ (hi) m (yathārth) Hungarian: valódiság, tényszerűség Icelandic: veruleiki (is) m Indonesian: realitas (id), kenyataan (id) Irish: nithiúlacht f, réadúlacht f Italian: realtà (it) f Japanese: 実在 (ja) (じつざい, jitsuzai), 現実 (ja) (げんじつ, genjitsu) Khmer: ការពិត (kaa pɨt) Korean: 현실 (ko) (hyeonsil) Lao: ຄວາມເປັນຈິງ (lo) (khuām pen ching) Latin: natura, eventus, veritas (la) Latvian: īstenība f, realitāte f, reālums m, reālība f Luxembourgish: Realitéit f Macedonian: реалност f (realnost) Malay: realiti, kenyataan, hakikat, fakta Malayalam: യാഥാർത്ഥ്യം (ml) (yāthāṟtthyaṃ) Norwegian: Bokmål: virkelighet (no) m or f Polish: rzeczywistość (pl) f, realność (pl) f Portuguese: realidade (pt) f Romanian: realitate (ro) f Russian: реа́льность (ru) f (reálʹnostʹ), действи́тельность (ru) f (dejstvítelʹnostʹ), веще́ственность (ru) f (veščéstvennostʹ), явь (ru) f (javʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: стварност f, реалност f, јава f Roman: stvarnost (sh) f, realnost (sh) f, java (sh) f Slovak: skutočnosť f Slovene: resničnost f Spanish: realidad (es) f Swedish: verklighet (sv) c, realism (sv) c Tamil: மெய் (ta) (mey) Thai: ความเป็นจริง (th) (kwaam-bpen-jing) Turkish: gerçeklik (tr), realite (tr) Ukrainian: реа́льність f (reálʹnistʹ), ді́йсність f (díjsnistʹ), спра́вжність f (správžnistʹ) Volapük: please add this translation if you can West Frisian: wierheid c

a real entity, event etc.

Armenian: իրողություն (hy) (irołutʿyun) Catalan: realitat (ca) f Danish: realitet c Dutch: feitelijkheid (nl) f, realiteit (nl) f (indefinite article only) Esperanto: realaĵo French: vérité (fr) f Georgian: რეალობა (realoba) German: Realität (de) f Greek: πραγματικότητα (el) f (pragmatikótita) Hungarian: realitás (hu), tény (hu) Khmer: ការពិត (kaa pɨt) Malayalam: പരമാർത്ഥത (paramāṟtthata) Norwegian: Bokmål: realitet m Nynorsk: realitet m Polish: rzeczywistość (pl) f Portuguese: realidade (pt) f Romanian: realitate (ro) f Spanish: realidad (es) f Swedish: realitet (sv) c

entirety of all that is real

Afrikaans: realiteit Armenian: իրական (hy) (irakan) Bashkir: ысынбарлыҡ (ısınbarlıq) Belarusian: рэа́льнасць f (reálʹnascʹ), рэчаі́снасць (be) f (rečaísnascʹ), рэчаві́стасць f (rečavístascʹ) Bulgarian: реа́лност (bg) f (reálnost), действи́телност (bg) f (dejstvítelnost) Catalan: realitat (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 現實／现实 (zh) (xiànshí) Czech: skutečnost (cs) f Danish: virkelighed (da) c Dutch: de werkelijkheid (nl) f, de realiteit (nl) f (definite article only) Esperanto: realo (eo) Finnish: todellisuus (fi) French: réalité (fr) f Georgian: რეალობა (realoba), სინამდვილე (sinamdvile) Greek: πραγματικότητα (el) f (pragmatikótita) Hungarian: valóság (hu) Indonesian: realitas (id), kenyataan (id) Japanese: 現実 (ja) (げんじつ, genjitsu) Korean: 현실 (ko) (hyeonsil) Latvian: īstenība f, realitāte f, reālība Malay: realiti, kenyataan Norwegian: Bokmål: virkelighet (no) m or f Nynorsk: røynd (nn) f, røyndom m, verkelegheit (nn) f Polish: rzeczywistość (pl) f, jawa (pl) f Portuguese: realidade (pt) f Russian: реа́льность (ru) f (reálʹnostʹ), действи́тельность (ru) f (dejstvítelʹnostʹ) Spanish: realidad (es) f Swedish: verklighet (sv) c Ukrainian: реа́льність f (reálʹnistʹ), ді́йсність f (díjsnistʹ) Yiddish: וואָר‎ f (vor)

an individual observer's subjective perception

Afrikaans: realiteit Bashkir: ысынбарлыҡ (ısınbarlıq) Catalan: realitat (ca) f Danish: virkelighed (da) c Dutch: werkelijkheid (nl) f, realiteit (nl) f (indefinite article only) Finnish: todellisuus (fi) Georgian: რეალობა (realoba), სინამდვილე (sinamdvile) German: Realität (de) f Greek: πραγματικότητα (el) f (pragmatikótita) Japanese: 現実 (ja) (げんじつ, genjitsu) Latvian: realitāte f Portuguese: realidade (pt) f Romanian: realitate (ro) f Russian: реа́льность (ru) f (reálʹnostʹ), действи́тельность (ru) f (dejstvítelʹnostʹ) Spanish: realidad (es) f Swedish: verklighet (sv) c Turkish: realite (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: (please verify) realaĵo Estonian: (please verify) reaalsus, (please verify) tegelikkus French: (please verify) réalité (fr) German: (please verify) Wirklichkeit (de) f, (please verify) Realität (de) f Italian: (please verify) realtà (it) Latin: (please verify) realitas f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: (please verify) стварност f, (please verify) реалност f, (please verify) јава f Roman: (please verify) stvarnost (sh) f, (please verify) realnost (sh) f, (please verify) java (sh) f Slovene: (please verify) resničnost f Swedish: (please verify) verklighet (sv) c Ukrainian: (please verify) реальність (realʹnistʹ)

Further reading

• reality on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• irately, tearily

---

Italian

Etymology

Clipping of reality show, from English reality show.

Noun

reality m (plural realities)

1. (television) reality show

   Synonym: reality show

Further reading

• reality in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, a clipping of reality show, from English reality show.

Noun

reality m (plural realities)

1. (Brazil, television) reality show

   Synonym: reality show

---

Spanish

Etymology

Clipping of reality show, from unadapted borrowing from English reality show.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /reˈaliti/ [reˈa.li.t̪i]
• Rhymes: -aliti

Noun

reality m (plural realities or realitys)

1. (television) reality show

   Synonyms: reality show, programa de telerrealidad

   • 2021 October 26, Celia Fernández, “El activismo altruista como carne de ‘reality’”, in El País‎:

     Hace un mes fueron precisamente las protestas (digitales) las que tumbaron el estreno de The Activist, un reality estadounidense al que se acusó de querer mercantilizar el altruismo, promover la rivalidad entre causas sociales y reducir su éxito al alcance en redes de quienes defienden los derechos humanos.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “reality”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• “show reality” in Lexico, Oxford University Press.