noun
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a person who is aware of and accepts the physical universe, events, etc, as they are; pragmatist
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an artist or writer who seeks to represent the familiar or typical in real life rather than an idealized, formalized, or romantic interpretation
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philosophy a person who accepts realism
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(modifier) of, relating to, or characteristic of realism or realists in the arts, philosophy, etc
a realist school
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of realist
First recorded in 1595–1605; real 1 + -ist; compare French réaliste
Explanation
Some may say you never expect good things to happen, but maybe you’re just a realist, a person who uses facts and past events, rather than hopeful feelings and wishes, to predict the future. In art, Realist painters started a movement by depicting the world around them as it actually appeared, rather than painting flattering portraits of unattractive people and scenes too good to be true. You don't have to be an artist to be a realist — just consider limitations and anticipate that things that can go wrong will go wrong. The downside? Realists don't get to dream of the great things that could happen if everything goes right.
Vocabulary lists containing realist
Franklin Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" (1941)
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Franklin Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" (1941), List 2
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Part 2 Vocabulary (Unit 5)
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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:
Plagiarism claims against Arday were first made in July by Nathan Cofnas, a US academic and self-defined "race realist" whose research affiliation with a Cambridge college was terminated in 2024 amid racism accusations.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
"Since day one of our evacuation, I have been a realist about the situation," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
I’m a brutal realist: Bad things happen if this gets botched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Even if you’re a realist, don’t let gloomy projections get you down.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
His words pierced me, hardened though I was, realist as I wished to be.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
“We are realists, but we are not worrywarts either,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 11, 2026
Even worse are the hardheaded dollars-and-cents realists of Wall Street who take this new reality as a given.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025
The idealists absolutely should push the realists ever further.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2025
“I'm a realist. Who says realists can’t have an entourage of fairies?”
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2025
Strict realists in my family, we always objected: “Why do they always go up?”
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
