realism

[ ree-uh-liz-uh m ]

/ ˈri əˌlɪz əm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR realism ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the abstract, speculative, etc.

the tendency to view or represent things as they really are.

Fine Arts.

treatment of forms, colors, space, etc., in such a manner as to emphasize their correspondence to actuality or to ordinary visual experience.Compare idealism(def 4), naturalism(def 2).
(usually initial capital letter) a style of painting and sculpture developed about the mid-19th century in which figures and scenes are depicted as they are experienced or might be experienced in everyday life.

Literature.

a manner of treating subject matter that presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of the lower and middle classes.
a theory of writing in which the ordinary, familiar, or mundane aspects of life are represented in a straightforward or matter-of-fact manner that is presumed to reflect life as it actually is.Compare naturalism(def 1b).

Philosophy.

the doctrine that universals have a real objective existence.Compare conceptualism, nominalism.
the doctrine that objects of sense perception have an existence independent of the act of perception.Compare idealism(def 5a).

Nearby words

real-time ultrasound, realgar, realia, realign, realignment, realism, realist, realistic, reality, reality awareness, reality check

Origin of realism

1810–20; real¹ + -ism; compare French réalisme

Related forms

an·ti·re·al·ism, nounhy·per·re·al·ism, nounnon·re·al·ism, nouno·ver·re·al·ism, noun

pro·re·al·ism, nounul·tra·re·al·ism, nounun·re·al·ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for realism

There was also an off-putting conflict between whimsy and realism.
‘Peter Pan Live!’ Review: No Amount of Clapping Brings It to Life|Kevin Fallon|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Interpreted more broadly, the phrase loses meaning: what constitutes the necessary threshold of realism?
The Birth of the Novel|Nick Romeo|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He somehow manages to balance faith, realism, optimism, the news of the day, and the fate of the human race.
Martin Luther King’s Nobel Speech Is an Often Ignored Masterpiece|Malcolm Jones|October 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yet American minimalism, isolationism, realism, mind-our-own-business-ism—whatever you want to call it—is cyclical.
Rand Paul vs. the Real World|James Kirchick|September 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST

I loved his blend of Native American realism with just a touch of surrealism.
Sherman Alexie on His New Film, the Redskins, and Why It's OK to Laugh at His Work|William O’Connor|August 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As we said at the outset, what is most striking about this poem is its realism.
Frdric Mistral|Charles Alfred Downer
He was a great tragic artist in the rough, and his comedy displays an uncouth Rabelaisian realism.
Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature|John Addington Symonds
The great continental leaders of realism—Tolstoi, Zola, Ibsen—have been tainted with a fatal pessimism.
Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism|F. V. N. Painter
Theism is to these spiritual powers what Realism has been to material powers.
The Philosophy of Natural Theology|William Jackson
The details of the life in the Peckham draper's are made interesting to the reader by the sheer force of their realism….
Love and the Ironmonger|F. J. (Frederick John) Randall

British Dictionary definitions for realism

realism

/ (ˈrɪəˌlɪzəm) /

noun

awareness or acceptance of the physical universe, events, etc, as they are, as opposed to the abstract or ideal

awareness or acceptance of the facts and necessities of life; a practical rather than a moral or dogmatic view of things

a style of painting and sculpture that seeks to represent the familiar or typical in real life, rather than an idealized, formalized, or romantic interpretation of it

any similar school or style in other arts, esp literature

philosophy the thesis that general terms such as common nouns refer to entities that have a real existence separate from the individuals which fall under themSee also universal (def. 11b) Compare Platonism, nominalism, conceptualism, naive realism

philosophy the theory that physical objects continue to exist whether they are perceived or notCompare idealism, phenomenalism

logic philosophy the theory that the sense of a statement is given by a specification of its truth conditions, or that there is a reality independent of the speaker's conception of it that determines the truth or falsehood of every statement

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Culture definitions for realism (1 of 2)

realism

An approach to philosophy that regards external objects as the most fundamentally real things, with perceptions or ideas as secondary. Realism is thus opposed to idealism. Materialism and naturalism are forms of realism. The term realism is also used to describe a movement in literature that attempts to portray life as it is.

Culture definitions for realism (2 of 2)

realism

An attempt to make art and literature resemble life. Realist painters and writers take their subjects from the world around them (instead of from idealized subjects, such as figures in mythology or folklore) and try to represent them in a lifelike manner.

realism

noun

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Examples from the Web for realism

British Dictionary definitions for realism

realism

noun

Culture definitions for realism (1 of 2)

realism

Culture definitions for realism (2 of 2)

realism