reality
Pluralrealities (some meanings)
- 1What actually exists and happens in life and the world as a whole, as opposed to what one imagines, hopes for, or pretends.
Spending all day online can make it harder to stay grounded in reality.
Science fiction often blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
UsageOften in in reality, meaning "actually", after the claim it corrects: it looked easy, but in reality it was hard.
Similartruth
Note
Often found in the fixed phrase in reality, which sets how things actually are against how they seem. Addison (1712) describes a man who fancies he understands a critic "when in reality he does not." Outside the phrase, the word often pairs with its opposite, fantasy.
- 2Television programming that films unscripted situations with real people rather than actors performing a script.
Reality has taken over much of the prime-time schedule in recent years.
Producers love reality because a single season costs far less than scripted drama.
UsageUsually before a noun: reality TV, a reality show. On its own it is industry shorthand; in general writing reality TV is clearer.
- 3The state or quality of being actual or real, rather than imagined or invented.
Philosophers have long debated the reality of time itself.
The reality of the threat became clear once the evidence was reviewed.
UsageUsually with of: the reality of the threat, the reality of time.
- 4A thing, event, or fact that genuinely exists or has actually happened.
Rising sea levels are now a measurable reality along the coast.
She wrote honestly about the everyday realities of life on a farm.
UsageTakes a and a plural: a harsh reality, face the reality that + clause, the daily realities of farm life.
Similarfact
Note
It names a fact set against mere appearance or idea. Milton has shows yield "to realities" in Paradise Lost, and in James Beattie's Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth (1770) a speaker protests that his neck "may be an idea to you, but to me it is a reality." In the plural it often means the day-to-day facts someone lives with.
- 5A single observer's own subjective sense of what is real, which may differ sharply from another person's.
Trauma can reshape a person's reality until familiar places feel threatening.
In his reality, the breakup was entirely her fault, and nothing his friends said could change his mind.
Similarperception, perspective, worldview
Less common meanings
- 6Real property; land together with the buildings and structures permanently attached to it.
Note
An early sense of the word in English. It is recorded from 1550 as a legal term for fixed property, echoing Middle French realité, "property, possession." The meaning is now obsolete, but it lives on in its relatives realty and real estate, where real still points to land and what is fixed to it. In modern legal writing, use one of those terms instead.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Reality is recorded from 1550 as a legal term for fixed property. en.wiktionary.org
- The French connection involves Middle French realité, meaning property or possession; realty is an etymological relative. en.wiktionary.org
- Real in real estate refers to immovable property, including land and buildings. en.wiktionary.org
- 7Loyalty or faithful devotion to a person, cause, or commitment.
To express our reality to the emperor.
1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy StateNote
A dead sense, met only in older prose. In The Holy State (1642), Thomas Fuller writes of wishing "to express our reality to the emperor," meaning loyal devotion. A modern reader would take that phrase as nonsense or as "the real situation," so current writing uses loyalty or devotion instead. Keep this meaning for reading and quoting, not for new sentences.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Thomas Fuller wrote The Holy State, first published in 1642. en.wikipedia.org
- The Holy State was first published in 1642. celm.folger.edu
- Wiktionary attributes the quoted wording to Fuller's The Holy State (1642). en.wiktionary.org
- Reality in this quotation means loyalty or devotion. en.wiktionary.org
Practice
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Origin
Late Latin reālis ("real") led to Medieval Latin reālitās, then Middle French realité ("property, possession") and French réalité ("quality of being real"); in English terms it is "real" plus "-ity." First recorded around 1540, it was used from 1550 as a legal term for fixed property, and the sense "real existence" appears from 1647.