reality

UK/ɹiːˈælɪti//ɹiˈæləti/

reality noun: the state of being actual or real; realness.

Noun

reality (usually uncountable, plural realities)

(usually) The state of being actual or real; realness.
- The reality of the crash scene on TV dawned upon him only when he saw the victim was no actor but his friend.
- While the SCP universe is, of course, filled with things that we would certainly not consider "real", most of the SCPs are tangible or perceivable in some way. There are those concepts, however, whose reality is debatable, even to the SCP Foundation, begging them to ask the question of what...2019 January 7, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: Pattern Screamers” (0:11 from the start), in The Exploring Series, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2023
(usually) The real world.
- A man very often fancies that he understands a critic, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning.1712 February 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, February 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 291; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The...
- As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,[…]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get.[…]I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate...1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC
(usually) A real entity, event, or other fact.
- The ultimate reality of life is that it ends in death.
- There are several new realities that this team now needs to accept: our old project is dead, and our new project is now the priority.
(usually) The entirety of all that is real.
- Across the entire Universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust. And the dust will become atoms and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every...2008 July 5, Russell T Davies, “Journey's End”, in Graeme Harper, director, Doctor Who, season 4 [30], episode 13, spoken by Davros (Julian Bleach)
(usually) An individual observer's own subjective perception of that which is real.
(obsolete, usually) Loyalty; devotion.
- To express our reality to the emperor.1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC
(obsolete, usually) Realty; real estate.
(attributive, usually) Reality television.
- a foray into reality programming

Proper noun capitalized: Reality

Reality

A female given name from English.

reality meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

reality in Hindi

state of being actual or real: सच्चाई saccāī, यथार्थ yathārth, वास्तविकता vāstaviktā, हक़ीक़त haqīqat
a real entity, event etc.: वास्तविक vāstavik
entirety of all that is real: वास्तविकता vāstaviktā

reality in Tamil

state of being actual or real: மெய் mey

reality in Urdu

state of being actual or real: حَقِیقَت haqīqat, سَچَّائی saccāī, اَصْلِیَت asliyat

reality in Bengali

state of being actual or real: হকিকত hokikot, সাচ্চাই śaccai

More languagesFewer languages

reality in Telugu: సిద్ధము siddhamu
reality in Malayalam: യാഥാർത്ഥ്യം yāthāṟtthyaṁ, പരമാർത്ഥത paramāṟtthata
reality in Kannada: ನನಸು, ನೆನಸು, ದಿಟ, ಸತ್ಯತೆ
reality in Punjabi: ਅਸਲ asal, ਯਥਾਰਥ yathārath, ਘਣਤਵ ghaṇtav, ست satt
reality in Gujarati: વાસ્તવિકતા, વાસ્તવિકતાનો
reality in Odia: ବାସ୍ତବତା
reality in Sanskrit: सत्यता satyatā, सत्य satyá, सत्त्व sattvá
reality in Assamese: দিঠক dithok
reality in Nepali: बिपना bipanā
reality in Pashto: واقعيت wāqe'yát, حقيقت haqiqat, ريښتيا rix̌tyā
reality in Arabic: وَاقِع wāqiʕ, حَقِيقَة ḥaqīqa, وَاقِعِيَّة wāqiʕiyya
reality in Malay: realiti, kenyataan, hakikat, fakta
reality in Indonesian: realitas, kenyataan
reality in Thai: ความเป็นจริง kwaam-bpen-jing
reality in Vietnamese: thực tại, thực tế, hiện thực

Examples of reality in a sentence

There are those concepts, however, whose reality is debatable, even to the SCP Foundation, begging them to ask the question of what, exactly, is real.2019 January 7, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: Pattern Screamers” (0:11 from the start), in The Exploring Series, archived from the...
Does this mean that reality has caught up with science fiction?2015 August 13, Emmanuel Tsekleves, “Science fiction as fact: how desires drive discoveries”, in The Guardian, archived from the original...
My neck, Sir, may be an idea to you, but to me it is a reality.1770, James Beattie, Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth:
A dream, of simple fantasy / That I, wished was reality / That you'd, come knocking at my door / And we'd, relive this dream once more1983, Debarge, “A Dream”, in In A Special Way:

All 40 example sentences with reality

Synonyms of reality

Antonyms

fantasy

Forms of reality

plural	realities

Plural of reality: realities

Origin of reality

From French réalité (“quality of being real”), from Middle French realité (“property, possession”), from Medieval Latin reālitās, from Late Latin reālis (“real”), equivalent to real + -ity. Recorded since 1550 as a legal term in the sense of “fixed property” (compare real estate, realty); the sense “real existence” is attested from 1647. First attested in c. 1540.

From reality.

Phrases with reality

5 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with reality

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about reality

What does reality mean?: Reality means the state of being actual or real; realness.
What is reality in Hindi?: Reality in Hindi is सच्चाई (saccāī), यथार्थ (yathārth), वास्तविकता (vāstaviktā). See Reality meaning in Hindi.
How do you use reality in a sentence?: There are those concepts, however, whose reality is debatable, even to the SCP Foundation, begging them to ask the question of what, exactly, is real.
What part of speech is reality?: Reality can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce reality?: Reality is pronounced /ɹiːˈælɪti/ (UK).
What is the plural of reality?: The plural of reality is realities.

Words near reality in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: reality (page history and authors); Reality (page history and authors); సిద్ధము (Telugu) (page history and authors); reality (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ست (Punjabi) (page history and authors); reality (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); reality (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); सत्त्व (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); बिपना (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reality.ogg.

Cite this entry: “reality.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reality. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.