Realistic

How to spell realistic

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce realistic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does realistic mean?

1. adjectiveShowing a sensible, practical understanding of what can actually be achieved or expected.
2. adjectiveRepresenting things in a way that closely resembles real life.

Realistic in a sentence

• The manager set a realistic deadline that the team could genuinely meet.

• The film used realistic effects that made the storm look genuinely terrifying.

• A realistic budget left enough room for the unexpected repairs.

• The artist painted such a realistic portrait that visitors thought it was a photograph.

Where does realistic come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the Latin realis, meaning 'actual' or 'relating to things', which itself was built on res, the Latin word for 'thing' or 'matter'. From the same family English inherited 'real' and later 'reality', borrowed through medieval Latin and French during the late Middle Ages. The noun 'realist' emerged to describe someone concerned with things as they truly are rather than as imagined, and the adjective 'realistic' was formed by adding the common -ic ending, appearing in English in the early nineteenth century. It first carried a philosophical and artistic sense, describing painting and writing that depicted life faithfully, before broadening to its everyday modern meaning of sensible and grounded expectations. The spelling stays straightforward once you see the parts: keep the 'real' you already know, then add '-istic' as a single familiar unit, and there are no doubled letters to second-guess.

How the word is built

• real (from Latin realis: actual, relating to things)
• -ist (one who holds a view)
• -ic (adjective suffix)