Reality
nounThe state of things as they actually exist, rather than as imagined or wished.
How to spell reality
7 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce reality
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does reality mean?
- nounThe state of things as they actually exist, rather than as imagined or wished.
Reality in a sentence
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The budget forecast ignored the financial reality of the company.
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In reality, the journey took twice as long as the brochure promised.
Where does reality come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin realis, meaning 'relating to a thing', which was built on res, the plain Latin word for 'thing' or 'matter'. Medieval Latin coined realitas to name the quality of being real, and English borrowed the idea through Old French in the late 1500s. At first it carried a fairly technical, philosophical and legal weight, describing things that genuinely exist as opposed to what is merely imagined. Over time it broadened into the ordinary sense of the actual state of the world. The same res root still hides inside everyday relatives like 'real', 'really' and even 'republic' (literally 'the public thing'), and the trap for spellers is the unstressed middle: writers often forget the second 'i' that quietly sits before the '-ty'.
How the word is built
- real- (from Latin res: thing)
- -ity (noun suffix forming a state or quality)
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