reality

American  

[ree-al-i-tee] / riˈæl ɪ ti /

noun

plural

realities

1. the state or quality of being real.

2. resemblance to what is real.

3. a real thing or fact.

4. real things, facts, or events taken as a whole; state of affairs.

   the reality of the business world; vacationing to escape reality.

5. Philosophy.

   1. something that exists independently of ideas concerning it.

   2. something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive.

6. something that is real.

7. something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.

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adjective

1. noting or pertaining to a TV program or film that portrays nonactors interacting or competing with each other in real but contrived situations, allegedly without a script.

   a popular reality show; reality TV.

idioms

1. in reality, in fact or truth; actually.

   brave in appearance, but in reality a coward.

reality British  

/ rɪˈælɪtɪ /

noun

1. the state of things as they are or appear to be, rather than as one might wish them to be

2. something that is real

3. the state of being real

4. philosophy

   1. that which exists, independent of human awareness

   2. the totality of facts as they are independent of human awareness of them See also conceptualism Compare appearance

5. actually; in fact

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Other Word Forms

• antireality adjective
• nonreality noun
• proreality noun

Etymology

Origin of reality

From the Medieval Latin word reālitās, dating back to 1540–50. See real ¹, -ity

Example Sentences

With nowhere for New England to hide, it didn’t take long for a harrowing reality to set in.

From The Wall Street Journal

"There's a harsh reality for me," said Howe.

From Barron's

In the film’s slightly alternate reality, Charli sighs and goes along with what everyone else is telling her to do, simply because she’s never found herself in this position before.

From Salon

Honestly, that’s less a flaw than a feature: The wholesale rejection of reality is central to the brand.

From Salon

Humans often defer to AI because its calculating, unfeeling nature implies objective authority, ignoring the reality that AI knowledge learns from the past to predict the future.

From Salon

Related Words

• existence
• matter
• phenomenon
• real world
• realism
• sensibility
• truth