realism

American  

[ree-uh-liz-uhm] / ˈri əˌlɪz əm /

noun

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

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

3. Fine Arts.

   1. treatment of forms, colors, space, etc., in such a manner as to emphasize their correspondence to actuality or to ordinary visual experience.

   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.

4. Literature.

   1. a manner of treating subject matter that presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of the lower and middle classes.

   2. 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.

5. Philosophy.

   1. the doctrine that universals have a real objective existence.

   2. the doctrine that objects of sense perception have an existence independent of the act of perception.

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realism British  

/ ˈrɪəˌlɪzəm /

noun

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

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

3. 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

4. any similar school or style in other arts, esp literature

5. 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 them See also universal Compare Platonism nominalism conceptualism naive realism

6. philosophy the theory that physical objects continue to exist whether they are perceived or not Compare idealism phenomenalism

7. 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

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realism ¹ Cultural  

1. 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.

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realism ² Cultural  

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

• antirealism noun
• hyperrealism noun
• nonrealism noun
• overrealism noun
• prorealism noun
• ultrarealism noun
• unrealism noun

Etymology

Origin of realism

First recorded in 1810–20; real ¹ + -ism; compare French réalisme

Example Sentences

They represented the two very different sides of his work as a production designer: the fantastical world-building of “Avatar” and the grounded historical realism of “Lincoln.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026

The comment is a jolt of realism for German elites, who, more than 80 years after World War II, generally treat international law as sacrosanct.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

The former Solicitor General of the United States puts the tariffs case in its legal realism context.

From Slate • Feb. 28, 2026

The recent uptick comes several months after OpenAI released Sora2, the latest iteration of its video-generating software that has made a leap in the realism of the product it offers.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

A moment of cheap symbolism only, and then I have to bow to the strict rules of realism, which is to say: they can’t see a thing.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Related Words

• reality
• truth
• verisimilitude