Realistically

How to spell realistically

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce realistically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does realistically mean?

1. adverbIn a way that accurately represents things as they really are or appear in real life.
2. adverbWhen one assesses a situation in a sensible, practical way that takes the real limits into account.

Realistically in a sentence

• The film portrays factory work realistically and without sentiment.

• Realistically speaking, the renovation cannot be finished before the holidays.

• The painting captures the morning light so realistically that it looks photographic.

• We need to budget realistically rather than hope for a windfall.

Where does realistically come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun res, which simply meant 'thing', 'matter', or 'affair', and its derived adjective realis, 'relating to actual things'. From realis came the philosophical term 'realist', someone concerned with things as they truly are rather than with abstractions, and the adjective 'realistic', describing anything faithful to real life. English assembled 'realistically' by stacking suffix upon suffix: -ic to make the adjective, then the adverb-forming -ally that politely smooths into the familiar -ically ending. The word entered everyday English in the nineteenth century alongside artistic and scientific debates about portraying life accurately. The spelling trap lives entirely in that long unstressed tail: writers reach for a single -ly and forget the buried -al-, producing the wrong 'realisticly', when in truth the adverb is built on the adjective 'realistical' and so keeps the full -ically.

How the word is built

• real (from Latin res: thing)
• -ist (one who holds a view)
• -ic (relating to)
• -al (adjective)
• -ly (adverb)