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

In reality, the combination proved to be a distraction, and much of the effort was waylaid as Tesla struggled with producing its first mainstream car.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The capabilities we unlock by making space-based data centers a reality will fund and enable self-growing bases on the Moon, an entire civilization on Mars and ultimately expansion to the universe,” Musk said.

From MarketWatch

But today, we stand on the precipice of something different: deepfakes and AI-generated content indistinguishable from reality.

From The Wall Street Journal

I suspect this has something to do with the rise of a particular kind of reality television spectacle — one that insisted life’s milestones should not merely be marked, but maximized.

From Salon

In the last year, the former reality star has launched a clothing brand, two documentary series with Amazon Prime and has most recently designed a trainer line with Adidas.

From BBC

Related Words

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