realization
Americannoun
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realizations
plural
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the making or being made real of something imagined, planned, etc.
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the result of such a process.
The new church was the realization of a ten-year dream.
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the act of realizing or the state of being realized.
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an instance or result of realizing.
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Music.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of realization
First recorded in 1605–15; from French réalisation; equivalent to realize + -ation
Explanation
A realization is the act of becoming completely aware of something. Many children who walk into a circus tent for the first time are struck with the realization that clowns are terrifying. A realization is a gradual or sudden understanding or comprehension of something. Another way to use the word realization is to mean the fulfillment of something that was previously only imagined, like the realization of your dream of becoming a pastry chef, or the realization on stage of the play you scribbled on napkins and scraps of paper. Realization grew out of the French réaliser, "to make real."
Vocabulary lists containing realization
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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Lesson 9
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some bands with a four-decade career would be disappointed by the turnout, or by the realization that many fans not wearing Maiden shirts are dressed in Megadeth merch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Watching them slowly come to that realization is what makes “United 93” so devastating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
That realization hit again last week, when the Wall Street Journal reported that A.I. rival Anthropic will project a total addressable market of $30 trillion.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
And Parton conveys the magnitude of this realization, stating plainly, “Sometimes the road is rugged, and it’s hard to travel on, but holding onto each other, we don’t have to walk alone.”
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Instant realization sent a leaden weight thudding into the pit of Matthias’s stomach!
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The author also draws on realizations from his own life, such as the time he found himself perversely stifling another man’s generous impulse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Private-market vehicles assume regular realizations of unlisted share investments and repayment of private loans, which have slowed due to the lack of exits or losses.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Such realizations are familiar in the community: You can miss out on something satisfying simply because it doesn’t match your predefined tastes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
The team also measured how easily this fluid flows and found that its viscosity is extremely low, making it one of the closest realizations of a perfect fluid ever observed.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 15, 2026
Just like that, a flood of realizations swamps me, one after another.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
