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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
Noun
reality (usually uncountable, plural realities)
- 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” (0:11 from the start), in The Exploring Series, archived from the original on 11 January 2023: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.
- 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: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: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.
- A real entity, event, or other fact.
The ultimate reality of life is that it ends in death.
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 […].
- The entirety of all that is real.
2008 July 5, Russell T Davies, “Journey's End”, in Graeme Harper, director, 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!
- An individual observer's own subjective perception of that which is real.
- (obsolete) Loyalty; devotion.
- (law, obsolete) Realty; real estate.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Collocations
- harsh reality
- stark reality
- brutal reality
- grim reality
- bitter reality
Translations
state of being actual or real
- Albanian: realitet (sq) m
- Arabic: وَاقِع m (wāqiʕ), حَقِيقَة (ar) f (ḥaqīqa)
- Hijazi Arabic: حقيقة f (ḥagīga), واقع m (wāqiʕ)
- Armenian: իրականություն (hy) (irakanutʿyun)
- Assamese: দিঠক (dithok)
- Azerbaijani: gerçəklik, reallıq, həqiqət (az)
- Bashkir: ғәмәл (ğəməl), ысынбарлыҡ (ısınbarlıq), хәҡиҡәт (xəqiqət)
- Belarusian: рэа́льнасць f (reálʹnascʹ), рэчаві́стасць f (rečavístascʹ), рэчаі́снасць (be) f (rečaísnascʹ), сапра́ўднасць f (sapráŭdnascʹ)
- Bengali: হকিকত (bn) (hokikot), সাচ্চাই (śaccai)
- Bulgarian: действи́телност (bg) f (dejstvítelnost), реа́лност (bg) f (reálnost)
- Catalan: realitat (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 現實/现实 (jin6 sat6), 實在/实在 (sat6 zoi6)
- Mandarin: 現實/现实 (zh) (xiànshí), 實在/实在 (zh) (shízài)
- Czech: skutečnost (cs) f, realita (cs) f
- Danish: virkelighed (da) c
- Dutch: werkelijkheid (nl) f, realiteit (nl) f
- Esperanto: realeco
- Estonian: tegelikkus, reaalsus
- Faroese: veruleiki m
- Finnish: olemassaolo (fi)
- French: réalité (fr) f
- Galician: realidade (gl) 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), वास्तविकता f (vāstaviktā), हक़ीक़त (hi) f (haqīqat)
- Hungarian: valódiság (hu), tényszerűség (hu)
- Icelandic: veruleiki (is) m, raunveruleiki (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)
- Kazakh: нақтылық (naqtylyq), шындық (kk) (şyndyq), ақиқат (aqiqat)
- Khmer: ការពិត (kaa pɨt)
- Korean: 현실(現實) (ko) (hyeonsil), 실재(實在) (ko) (siljae)
- Kyrgyz: чындык (ky) (cındık), акыйкат (ky) (akıykat)
- Lao: ຄວາມເປັນຈິງ (lo) (khuām pen ching)
- Latin: natura, eventus, veritas (la)
- Latvian: īstenība f, realitāte f, reālums m, reālība f
- Lithuanian: tikrovė f, realybė f
- Luxembourgish: Realitéit f
- Macedonian: реалност f (realnost), стварност f (stvarnost)
- Malay: realiti, kenyataan (ms), hakikat, fakta
- Malayalam: യാഥാർത്ഥ്യം (ml) (yāthāṟtthyaṁ)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: virkelighet (no) m or f
- Persian: واقعیت (fa) (vâqe'iyat), حقیقت (fa) (haqiqat)
- 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, realita f
- Slovene: resničnost f, realnost f
- Spanish: realidad (es) f
- Swedish: verklighet (sv) c, realism (sv) c
- Tajik: хақиқат (xaqiqat), воқеият (voqeyiyat)
- Tamil: மெய் (ta) (mey)
- Tatar: чынбарлык (tt) (çınbarlıq), хакыйкать (tt) (xaqıykat’)
- Thai: ความเป็นจริง (th) (kwaam-bpen-jing)
- Turkish: gerçeklik (tr), realite (tr)
- Turkmen: hakykat (tk)
- Ukrainian: реа́льність f (reálʹnistʹ), ді́йсність f (díjsnistʹ), спра́вжність f (správžnistʹ), я́ва (uk) f (jáva), ява́ (uk) f (javá)
- Urdu: حَقِیقَت f (haqīqat)
- Uyghur: رېئاللىق (rë'alliq), ھەقىقەت (heqiqet)
- Uzbek: reallik (uz), voqelik (uz), haqiqat (uz)
- Vietnamese: thực tại (vi), thực tế (vi), hiện thực (vi)
- Volapük: please add this translation if you can
- West Frisian: wierheid c
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a real entity, event etc.
entirety of all that is real
- Afrikaans: realiteit
- Arabic: وَاقِع m (wāqiʕ)
- 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
- Galician: realidade (gl) 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 (ms)
- 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)
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an individual observer's subjective perception
Translations to be checked
Further reading
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
Clipping of reality show, from English reality show.
Noun
reality m (plural realities)
- (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.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ʁeˈa.li.t͡ʃi/ , /ʁiˈa.li.t͡ʃi/ , (faster pronunciation) /ˈʁja.li.t͡ʃi/
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ʁeˈa.li.t͡ʃi/ , /ʁiˈa.li.t͡ʃi/ , (faster pronunciation) /ˈʁja.li.t͡ʃi/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ʁeˈa.li.t͡ʃi/ , /ʁiˈa.li.t͡ʃi/ , (faster pronunciation) /ˈʁja.li.t͡ʃi/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ʁeˈa.li.t͡ʃi/
Noun
reality m (plural realities)
- (Brazil, television) reality show
- Synonym: reality show
Spanish
Etymology
Clipping of reality show, from unadapted borrowing from English reality show.
Pronunciation
Noun
reality m (plural realities or realitys)
- (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 quotation)
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