# reality

Pronunciation: US say "ree-AL-uh-tee" /ɹiˈæləti/; UK say "ree-AL-i-tee" /ɹiːˈælɪti/

## Noun

1. What actually exists and happens in life and the world as a whole, as opposed to what one imagines, hopes for, or pretends.
   - Simple: The way things really are, not how you imagine or want them to be.
   - _Spending all day online can make it harder to stay grounded in reality._
   - _Science fiction often blurs the line between fantasy and reality._
2. Television programming that films unscripted situations with real people rather than actors performing a script.
   - Simple: A type of TV show that films real people instead of actors.
   - _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._
3. The state or quality of being actual or real, rather than imagined or invented.
   - Simple: The quality of being real and not imagined or fake.
   - _Philosophers have long debated the reality of time itself._
   - _The reality of the threat became clear once the evidence was reviewed._
4. A thing, event, or fact that genuinely exists or has actually happened.
   - Simple: A fact, thing, or event that really exists or really happens.
   - _Rising sea levels are now a measurable reality along the coast._
   - _She wrote honestly about the everyday realities of life on a farm._
5. A single observer's own subjective sense of what is real, which may differ sharply from another person's.
   - Simple: The way one person sees and understands what is real to them.
   - _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._

## Noun

6. Real property; land together with the buildings and structures permanently attached to it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Land and the buildings on it, owned as property.
7. Loyalty or faithful devotion to a person, cause, or commitment. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Faithful loyalty and devotion to someone or something.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/reality (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).