realityn.
/rɪˈalᵻti/, U.S. /riˈælədi/ I. The quality or state of being real.† 4.
1. Real existence; what is real rather than imagined or desired; the aggregate of real things or existences; that which underlies and is the truth of appearances or phenomena. Cf. real life n.augmented, social, virtual reality, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > reality > as actually existing
realitya1513
reala1637
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun]
truthc1330
acta1398
in existencea1425
realty1440
veritya1634
reality1647
actualness1668
actuality1675
thinghood1845
factual1855
out there1955
a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1965) II. 34 Þe fals herresy of manacheus..said þat þe sone of god ihesus tholit nocht werray passioun in rialite bot in aperaunce.
1583 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (ed. 4) I. 353/2 If it be alledged that those causes stand vpon reality,..& for that consideration the cause to be remitted to the temporall law: This notwithstanding the Officials prohibit them..not to proceed but before them.
1628 R. Gomersall Tragedie of Lodovick Sforza iv. iii. 48 Reality Is so farre fled since the last victory, That we may thinke the Court it selfe a maske.
1647 H. More Philos. Poems i. Pref. God doth not fill the World with his Glory by words and sounds, but by Spirit, and Life, and Reality.
1663 A. Cowley College in Wks. (1710) II. 623 To carry it on from Discourse and Design to Reality and Effect.
1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey III. xii. Observ. 217 This fiction concerning the immortal herds of Apollo, is bold, but founded upon truth and reality.
1750 J. Morgan tr. L. de Tassy Hist. Algiers ii. iii, in Compl. Hist. Piratical States Barbary 148 Rely upon me, and I will demonstrate to you, that our Apprehensions are often beyond reality, and that the way to your Happiness is short, safe and easy.
?1787 J. Reynolds Disc. Royal Acad. 19 An ignorant man, mistaking Garrick's representation of a scene in Hamlet, for reality.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna vii. xvi. 164 Like sweet reality among Dim visionary woes.
1864 W. W. Skeat tr. J. L. Uhland Songs & Ballads 16 What morning's dreams had promised, proved Reality when eve drew near.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith iv. 178 The universe of Reality is built on Truth.
1884 B. Bosanquet et al. tr. H. Lotze Metaphysic i. vii. 164 Limitations..imposed by Reality on itself and within which it is, as a matter of fact, compelled to restrain the multiplicity of its products.
1932 A. Huxley Brave New World iii. 64 Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, and come back without so much as a headache or a mythology.
1976 Nursing Times 17 June 923/3 Defining your role is concerned with describing your visions and dreams, and then finding ways to translate them into reality.
1988 Hindu 25 Feb. 6/4 The translation of our plans into reality ultimately depends on the size of our allocations.
2005 I. Sansom Mobile Libr.: Case Missing Bks. ii. 9 His expectations were sky-high, and his grasp of reality was minimal.
2. † b. Correspondence to fact; truth. Obsolete.† c. Of an intention, profession, etc.: the fact of being genuine, sometimes subjectively (also with implication of sense 4). Obsolete.
a. The quality of being real or having an actual existence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > reality or quality of being real
reality1545
formality1570
trueness1604
realness1612
thatness1643
positivity1659
actualness1668
positiveness1668
thingsomeness1674
somethingness1675
thingship1697
authenticity1839
thingness1840
truth1842
isness1865
thinginess1891
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > reality
truth1395
realty1440
reality1545
veriness1574
realness1612
fidelity1708
authenticity1839
intuitiveness1841
1545 J. Bale Mysterye Inyquyte P. Pantolabus f. 47v If ye marke wele the same (Tyll he come) yowr realite and substancialite of Christes presence there bodylye, will sone apere nothinge at all.
1563 G. Hay Confut. Abbote of Crosraguels Masse f. 76 We haue to luke for no vther presence of Christe in this action towards the realitie of his body and bloode.
1620 J. Melton Astrologaster 20 Your discourse..hath no Realitie or Essence in it.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xl. 250 The reality of his Conferences with God.
1686 H. More Brief Disc. Real Presence 55 Not as one scoptically would make us to profess, that this real participation of the Body and Blood of Christ, has no reality any where but in our phancy.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 110. ¶6 Lucretius..makes no doubt of the Reality of Apparitions.
1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy I. xxiv. 175 The Philosopher would use no other argument to the sceptic, who disputed with him against the reality of motion, save that of rising up upon his legs, and walking a-cross the room.
1790 W. Paley Horæ Paulinæ i. 4 It proves the general reality of the circumstances.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab vii. 88 Fancy's thin creations to endow With manner, being, and reality.
1861 E. Garbett Boyle Lect. 13 The presence or absence of faith..no more affects the reality of the truths revealed, than sight creates the material objects of the natural world.
1922 W. R. Inge Outspoken Ess. 2nd Ser. 26 The ‘Progressism’ of much modern thought is a poor substitute for this belief in the substantial reality of the eternal values.
1985 A. Brookner Family & Friends xii. 156 She is so used to thinking of herself that her brothers and her sister have no reality for her.
2003 I. MacDonald People's Music 223 Wheeler confirms that Nick was intrigued by perception in relation to the intrinsic reality (the ‘is-ness’) of what we see.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun]
soothc950
soothOE
rightOE
soothnessc1275
soothness1297
soothshipc1320
soothhead1340
very1382
trotha1387
trutha1391
verity1422
veriment1528
true?1531
trueness1559
veriness1574
reality1604
veracity1664
veridicalness1727
the fact of the matter1808
truthfulness1835
actualité1840
the straight1866
satya1879
straight goods1892
veridicalitya1901
truth value1903
dinky1941
1604 B. Jonson His Pt. Royall Entertainem. 13 Thus much (which was the least of the Entertainement in respect of the reality, abondance, delicacie, and order of all things else) to doe that seruiceable right,..the Author hath sufferd to come out.
1653 J. Rogers Ohel or Beth-Shemesh i. xv. 199 Their (then) ready obedience to this order of Christ, doth very much manifest the reality of this assertion.
1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey II. vii. Observ. 160 It may be ask'd what reality there is in the relation, and whether any trees bear fruit all the year in this Island?
1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote I. iv. xiv. 254 She used so many plausible arguments to convince me of the reality of it [sc. an assertion], with so many artful insinuations, that I began to waver in my opinion of the matter.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §72 The reality of the assertion seemed however then incredible to Dr. Spry.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [noun] > true character, genuineness
sincerity1611
reality1645
genuineness1647
originality1648
naturalness1656
undissembledness1681
legitimacy1695
genuinity1894
1645 in J. Robertson Select. Reg. Presbytery of Lanark (1839) 39 To tak tryell of the realitie of these promises.
1649 O. Cromwell Let. 19 Oct. in Writings & Speeches (1939) (modernized text) II. 146 By these you will see the reality of my intentions to save blood.
1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 36 The Port had never till then question'd the Truth and Reality of the Proposals.
1693 T. Power in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires xii. Argt. 240 He professes the reality of his Friendship, and the Sincerity of his Intentions.
1753 E. Haywood Jemmy & Jenny Jessamy II. xvii. 177 I dare..depend on nothing but an assurance from yourself of the reality of his professions.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest II. x. 126 Can you doubt the reality of that love, which, to obtain you, has urged me to risque your displeasure?
d. Resemblance to what is real or to an original, esp. in literary or artistic works.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > likeness to truth
truthlikenessa1586
verisimilitude1603
verisimility1646
reality1657
vraisemblance1802
1657 R. Baxter Certain Disputations Rights to Sacraments v. 474 Is there no Reality in a picture or a corps?
1761 tr. C. Batteux Course Belles Lettres III. iv. iii. 282 The poet need not to be so sollicitous about the reality of his characters as the opinion of those who believe them real.
1794 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor II. ii. ii. 27 The propriety and richness of the dresses,..the natural and energetic delivery of the actors, and the reality of every incidental circumstance were so great as to excite incessant rapture!
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine (1858) xiii. 431 The simplicity and reality of a teaching which took its stand on the ordinary sights and sounds still seen and heard in the same land.
1896 Harper's Mag. Apr. 680/1 The showy girl and her showy accessories were reproduced on the canvas with almost startling reality.
1910 Daily News 17 Oct. 3 All this is more real and more grim than Arcadia, but even Arcadia had its reality.
2002 Sci. Fiction Chron. May 34/1 There is more emotion, more reality, more simple sense in this one short story than most writers are able to cobble together in an entire writing career.
3. Something that is real; a real fact or state of things; (also) the real nature of something. Frequently in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > a reality or a real thing or state of things
visagec1374
fact?1560
actuality1587
reality1613
real1615
realty1616
fact of lifea1806
ground truth1833
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > reality > as actually existing > instance of
reality1613
realty1616
positive1620
1613 W. B. tr. S. Michaelis Admirable Hist. Penitent Woman ix. 101 This propagation of their kind is a reality which giueth sufficient proofe to conclude, that these men were carried into other places by Diuels.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 113 Not to receive figures for realities . View more context for this quotation
1676 R. Boyle Eng. Adventures i. 10 They both began to believe that what Poets fancied, was to them a reality, and that this was the Goddess of the Forest.
1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 165. ⁋1 To distinguish between Realities and Appearances.
1742 G. Turnbull Observ. Liberal Educ. 51 He must be taught..to distinguish realities from pretences and appearances, without contracting a too suspicious temper.
1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 145 'Tis grave philosophy's absurdest dream,..That..earth has no reality but woe.
1855 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. (1954) II. 214 That any unworldly, unsuperstitious person who is sufficiently acquainted with the realities of life can pronounce my relation to Mr. Lewes immoral I can only understand by remembering how subtle and complex are the influences that mould opinion.
1884 F. Temple Relations Relig. & Sci. (1885) vii. 200 Their genuine success for a time has been enough to show that they rested on a reality.
1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah Pref. p. lxxxiv Too tender-hearted to break our spirits with the realities of a bitter experience.
1968 D. Moraes My Son's Father x. 188 The time comes when the beloved person ceases to be a symbol, and becomes a reality.
2001 S. Walton Out of It (2002) i. 12 The various types of altered consciousness..represent ways in which rational individuals exercise an impact on the realities in which they are anchored.
a. Sincere devotion or loyalty (to a person); sincerity or honesty of character or purpose. Frequently with to. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > sincerity, freedom from deceit > [noun]
heartliness1435
singleness1526
fidelity1534
unfeignedness1535
sincereness1537
uprightness1541
integrity1548
entireness1549
sincerity1557
reality1616
realty1619
single-heartedness1642
plain-heartedness1647
single-mindedness1833
genuineness1841
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > faithfulness or trustworthiness > fidelity or loyalty > [noun]
truthOE
trotha1225
trueness?c1225
fayc1300
hold13..
lewtyc1330
faithfulnessc1400
perseverance?a1439
adherence1449
familiarityc1450
fidelity1509
devotiona1530
adherency1579
reality1616
rightness1625
lealty1861
lealness1882
1616 B. Jonson Love Restored in Wks. I. 994 So will they keepe their measures true, And make still their proportions new, Till all be come one harmonie, Of honor, and of courtesie, True valure, and vrbanitie, Of confidence, alacritie, Of promptnesse, and of industrie, Habilitie, Realitie.
1620 N. Brent tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Councel of Trent iii. 305 Hee desireth that his sincerity and realitie, may not bring a burthen vpon him.
1646 T. Fuller Andronicus iii. iv. sig. E2 We want not a will, but wait a time, to expresse our Reallity to the Emperour.
1665 A. Marvell Let. 9 Dec. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 255 I belieue there is nothing but reality among the partys.
1677 W. Hubbard Narr. Troubles with Indians New-Eng. 22 In token of the abovesaid Sachims reality in this Treaty.
1703 M. Chudleigh Let. 15 Oct. in Lett. to Lady Wharton (1727) II. 115 I am with great Reality, Dear Madam, Your affectionate and humble Servant.
1724 M. Davys Reform'd Coquet 63 If I wou'd but give him leave once more to throw himself at my feet, he wou'd soon convince me of his reality.
a1761 W. Law Comfort Weary Pilgrim (1809) 54 If thy faith and desire does not seek and cry to Christ for them in the same reality as the lame asked to walk They must have their reality to me in what they express and the blind to see.
b. A sincere expression of opinion or feeling. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1661 Princess Cloria v. 500 Realities are as little to be expected from him, as the disadvantages to us hitherunto.
a1680 T. Goodwin Wks. (1704) V. i. 165 Will you take one of Paul's Realities? (I must not term them Complements).
5.
a. That which constitutes the actual thing, as distinguished from what is merely apparent or external.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > the reality as opposed to what is apparent
bodyc1384
truth1531
substance1533
person1548
effect1592
hypostasis1605
reality1620
reala1637
essence1646
hypostase1867
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > reality > as actually existing > constituting actual thing
reality1620
1620 J. Ford Line of Life 109 A good man, that loues not vertue for the name of vertue onely, but for the substance and realitie.
1688 G. Keith Fund. Truths Christianity 51 The hypocritical show and affection of such a thing, without the reality thereof, is loathsome and abominable.
1704 J. Dennis Grounds of Crit. in Poetry Pref. That extraordinary Man declares like a most just and discerning Judge, that the Modern Stage was but a Shadow of the Antient, and an imperfect Shadow; that it had something of its Shew, but nothing of its Reality.
1724 J. Henley et al. tr. Pliny the Younger Epist. & Panegyrick I. iv. ii. 157 This was not the Reality, but the Ostentation of Grief.
1792 A. Young Trav. France 408 Couples marry and procreate on the idea, not the reality, of a maintenance; they increase beyond the demand of towns and manufactures.
1840 T. B. Macaulay in Edinb. Rev. Jan. 348 Clive..applied to the court of Delhi for a formal grant of the powers of which he already possessed the reality.
1878 J. P. Hopps Life Jesus vii. 27 The reality and not the mere show of prayer.
1900 J. K. Jerome Three Men on Bummel viii. 173 The French nation saw the English citizen and citizeness—no caricature, but the living reality—and their indignation exploded in laughter.
1991 G. Slovo Betrayal xxx. 279 The fact that she'd walked out on him confirmed what he'd always known—that she loved the image of Alan Littell, not the reality.
2000 C. Kannengiesser in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 48/2 Athanasius juxtaposed the experienced reality of baptismal rebirth with the image of the Son in the ‘bosom’ of the Father.
b. The real nature or constitution of something; the real thing or state of things.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [noun] > real nature
reality1640
1640 J. Howell Δενδρολογια 122 The Royall Oke sent a choice confident to Elaiana's Court (for there was the mill where these matters were a grinding) to know the truth, and reality of things.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxix. 169 Our simple Ideas are all real, all agree to the reality of things.
1701 C. Trotter Love at Loss ii. 9 The reality of Intrigues are generally private.
1756 G. Washington Let. in Writings (1889) I. 404 You entertain notions very different from the reality of the case.
1829 W. Hamilton tr. M. V. Cousin in Edinb. Rev. Oct. 216 You have all the momenta whose relation and notion constitute the reality of knowledge.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 130 He probably suspected..that the appearance of the heavens did not agree with the reality.
1917 ‘O. Douglas’ Setons xiv. 232 ‘I like that “grown-up”,’ she laughed; ‘it sounds so much less mature than the reality.’
1956 P. H. Johnson Last Resort vi. 27 It interested him to match his own conjectures with the reality.
1996 B. Sterling Holy Fire 8 It was a complex act of duty and rage and sorrow and politesse, but Mia understood the reality of the situation.
c. With modifying adjectives, as harsh reality, grim reality, stark reality, etc.: the actual circumstances or facts regarded as oppressive or unpleasant, esp. in contrast to an idealized or imagined state of affairs.
ΚΠ
1794 R. Hey Captive Monarch iii. vii. 58 Harsh reality, on my senses striking.
1843 Ladies' Repository Jan. 9/1 The romantic notions which some entertain of a mission field, may become chastened and humbled by contact with the cold reality of facts.
1878 Musical Times & Singing Class Circular 19 266/2 The money-trouble, which in grim reality or in the master's fancy, dogged his steps through life.
1927 Amer. Mercury Jan. 124/1 Yet such is the confusion in real values by the present-day audience that falsity persuasively presented often..makes a deeper impression and registers a deeper conviction than stark reality not trickily theatricalized.
1959 News Chron. 5 Aug. 4/2 The harsh reality of the cold war, of East-West tension.
2001 A. Solomon Noonday Demon (2002) xii. 441 They were discussing the grim reality: that his cingulotomy hadn't yet worked, and that he might have to have a second surgery.
6. Law.
a. = realty n.2 2b; (also) an item of real property. Cf. personalty n. 2. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > real or immovable property
unmoblec1400
unmovable1536
reality1581
immovable1588
realty1616
land1628
real estatea1642
fixed property1845
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xxxix.185 Yet do I not deny both personall properties and priuate realities, which law doth allow in priuate possessions, euen there, where friendship makes thinges to be most common by participation.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. ii. xi. §177 Chattels..Reall, because they concerne the realitie.
1638 G. Langbaine tr. G. Ranchin Rev. Councell Trent vi. iii. 318 Priviledged cases are not excepted in criminall matters, nor personall actions depending upon the realitie, and other such like civill matters.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) (at cited word) In a Law-sense, Reality or Realty is oppos'd to Personalty.
1726 G. Jacob Common Law Common-placed 9 Action of Waste sued against Tenant for Life, is in the Reality.
1784 Acts & Laws State Connecticut 29 Which Court..also shall have Cognizance of all Pleas,..whether the same do concern the Reality, and relate to any right of Freehold or Inheritance; [etc.].
b. The quality, in a law, of concerning property rather than persons. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1834 J. Story Confl. Laws I. §16. 18 By the personality of laws foreign jurists generally mean all laws, which concern the condition, state, and capacity of persons; by the reality of laws, all laws, which concern property or things.
1848 J. Bouvier Law Dict. U.S.A. (ed. 3) II. 410/2 Reality of Laws, those laws which govern property, whether real or personal, or things; the term is used in opposition to Personality of laws.]
Phrases
P1. in reality: in terms of real existence or actual life; (generally in somewhat weakened use) really, actually, in fact. Also, †in reality of fact (also truth).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [adverb] > in reality
in substancea1393
indeed1412
in realitya1513
in nature1605
solidly1625
under the skin (also skins)1896
a1513In rialite [see sense 1].
1614 T. Lodge tr. Seneca Of Benefits i. v, in tr. Seneca Wks. 7 They make litle account of that which in realitie of truth they ought most to prise & praise also.
1666 D. Coxe Let. 5 Feb. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) III. 52 I fear you will account of these discourses as extravagant or Impertinent, although in Reality they are only the breathings of a Passionate friend.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. ii. 7 This saying..amounts in reality of Fact to no more but this.
1725 F. Hutcheson Inq. Ideas Beauty & Virtue vii. 82 [We] are often led to believe that Objects may be naturally apt to give Pleasure or Pain to our external Senses, when in reality the Object has no such Qualitys.
1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. III. lxi. 321 The military being now in appearance, as well as in reality, the sole power which prevailed in the nation.
1798 S. Lee Young Lady's Tale in H. Lee Canterbury Tales II. 363 I will rather die in reality, than ever again endure the sever controul [sic] of my father.
1855 J. McCosh Method Divine Govt. (ed. 4) iii. i. 321 Doubtless they intend thereby to benefit the cause of religion, but they are in reality doing it serious injury.
1899 T. Roosevelt Rough Riders i. 26 Such a man was, in reality, a veteran even in his first fight.
1936 D. Carnegie How to win Friends & influence People ii. iv. 116 And so I had him thinking of me as a good conversationalist when, in reality, I had been merely a good listener and encouraged him to talk.
1960 Observer 20 Mar. 21 The Prime Minister..is responsible to Parliament, but is not in reality head of the Executive.
2002 P. Baines & A. Haslam Type & Typogr. iv. 93/2 In reality the pixels, like the scan lines in the other diagrams, here, touch each other.
P2. back to reality: back to the facts or constraints of the actual world, esp. from a set of extraordinary circumstances or idealized aspirations, or after a period of introspection or reverie. Frequently in to come back to reality, to bring back to reality.
ΚΠ
1849 Southern Literary Messenger 15 685/2 At such times I, timid child, thought of spirits, was terrified, and would make a noise to call her back to reality.
1889 Mind 14 389 Our large powers of mental constructiveness enable us to outstrip the actual phenomena of the world, at numerous points; while to bring them to the limits of actual experience is to come back to reality.
1936 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 7 June 2 b/7 Recent events have shocked him back to reality.
1972 R. Allen Skinhead Escapes i. 7 The sounds of pot-carriers brought him back to reality. It was an indignity forcing men to carry their covered pots..and empty the rotten things in a communal latrine.
1993 Bridge Nov. 30/3 Anyway, back to reality; slam is likely to depend on partner's club pips.
2001 Times 2 Jan. 1/4 The 23 adults and six children who spent a year on the Hebridean isle for a £2.4 million documentary, were all red-eyed as they waited to fly by helicopter to neighbouring Harris and back to reality.
Compounds
C1.
a.
reality content n.
ΚΠ
1928 R. W. Sellars Relig. coming of Age xi. 195 Things are fields of action with a reality-content which eludes our measurements.
1951 J. M. Fraser Psychol. x. 112 When we find someone in whose life..phantasy achievements occupy a very large place, we are probably justified in thinking that the reality-content of his motivation is a little low.
2005 J. Jobse De Stijl Continued iii. 94 The further dissolution and dissection of the old reality could be accomplished and..make way for a new reality content for art.
reality control n.
ΚΠ
1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four i. 37 Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting... All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’.
1982 PMLA 97 856/1 If he cannot affect the outside world, then at least he can transform the way he thinks about it—thus achieving as much reality control as he can in the circumstances.
reality-revealer n.
ΚΠ
1962 A. Huxley Island ix. 136 Murugan calls it dope... We, on the contrary, give the stuff good names—the moksha-medicine, the reality-revealer, the truth-and-beauty pill.
1962 A. Huxley Island ix. 141 ‘Which is the easy way?’ Will asked. ‘Education and reality-revealers.’
reality value n. [after German Wirklichkeitswert (1921 in the passage translated in quot. 1923)]
ΚΠ
1923 H. G. Baynes tr. C. G. Jung Psychol. Types xi. 554 When I speak of image in this book, I do not mean the psychic reflection of the external object, but a concept essentially derived from a poetic figure of speech; namely, the phantasy-image, a presentation which is only indirectly related to the perception of the external object... Although, as a rule, no reality-value [Ger. Wirklichkeitswert] belongs to the image, its significance for the psychic life is often thereby enhanced, i.e. a greater psychological value clings to it.
1961 Listener 23 Nov. 856/2 From the point of view of emancipation, as opposed that is to the point of view of truth or (as he called it) reality value, Freud was deeply affected by two considerations.
2004 Sociol. Relig. 65 243 Because these intrusions emerge into the stream of consciousness in the same way as any other psychic object, psychism theory proposes that they are initially perceived as having the same ‘reality value’ as empirically derived objects.
b.
reality-centred adj.
ΚΠ
1943 Jrnl. Relig. 23 285/1 The primary objection to Wieman's category of creativity, from this point of view, is that, whereas it is reality-centered, his central reality is a highly selective phase of the totality.
1962 Listener 19 Apr. 683/1 These concepts themselves keep the child's thinking ‘reality-centred’.
2006 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 13 Aug. (Books section) 1 Was there a troubled but still reality-centered Lee with a wife and kids..as well as a totally psychopathic Lee capable of horrendous rape and murder?
C2.
reality-based adj. (a) founded on realistic thinking or the state of things as they actually are; (b) originally U.S. (of a television programme) non-fictional, depicting a real event or situation, esp. either by filming the people involved at the time or using a reconstruction by actors; cf. reality television n., docusoap n.
ΚΠ
1946 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 11 348/2 The only true ‘classless’ society..has gradients of control and status... But these are reality-based, functionally appropriate, and ethically unassailable.
1960 L. Pincus Marriage i. 25 A challenge to move forward to fuller and more reality-based relations.
1988 Contemp. Sociol. 17 822/1 A persistent theme..is that television ‘texts’, both reality-based and fictional, contain messages similar to those embedded in the myths and narratives of oral cultures.
1994 D. Rushkoff Cyberia iii. xi. 147 In the safety of his cocooned emotional playground, Green Fire is free to take daring leaps into interdimensional zones that a parent, professional, or reality-based adult would not.
2000 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 27 Feb. 3/6 The morality of reality-based so-called ‘shockumentaries’.
reality check n. originally U.S. a reminder of the situation or state of things in the real world, esp. to dispel mistaken perceptions or unrealistic expectations; a corrective comparison with real life.
ΚΠ
1935 R. R. Willoughby in C. Murchison Handbk. Social Psychol. xii. 471 The ordinary checks, delays, and inhibitions imposed by objective reality... Among the implicit reactions we may distinguish two subdivisions, one in which the normally present criticism from the sense of reality is still present, but abeyant, and one in which this reality-check is completely lapsed.
1960 Jrnl. Educ. Sociol. 34 125 Passing through the educational system tended..to act as a reality check as to the plausibility of their occupational plans in relation to their educational plans.
1973 H. L. Nieburg Culture Storm iii. 55 The need for a reality check provides the chief distinction between mental health and illness.
1995 Briarpatch Mar. 32/1 Let's do a reality check. Over 90 percent of single mothers under the age of 25 live in poverty.
2000 N.Y. Times 15 Oct. iv. 17/3 The attack in Yemen serves as a reality check... It reminds us that our power to project our values can be seen as a mortal threat to the values of others.
reality checking n. the act or process of comparing an idea, opinion, etc., with related factual evidence, esp. to dispel misapprehensions; corrective comparison with external reality.
ΚΠ
1953 H. D. Sargent Insight Test ix.178 On the other hand the necessity for reality checking shows how tenuous the patient feels this reality boundary to be.
1989 Adweek (U.S.) (Nexis) 14 Aug. The most painful aspect of her job..is turning away..entrepreneurs whose ideas, while often brilliant, are unmarketable... We try to do a lot of reality checking before we make our decision.
1997 Parenting Sept. 127/2 Get together with a group of friends and do some reality-checking over lunch.
reality principle n. [chiefly after German Realitätsprinzip (Freud 1911, in Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen 3 4); compare earlier pleasure principle n. at pleasure n. Compounds 2] Psychoanalysis the principle propounded by Freud that the actual conditions of living cause the ego to modify the pleasure-seeking activity of the libido; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > theories of Freud > [noun] > search for pleasure > modification of libido
reality principle1916
1916 Criminal Sci. Monogr. 2 191 The activities of this ‘pleasure principle’..constantly come into conflict with the ‘reality principle’.
1921 R. Macaulay Dangerous Ages xii. 236 Your ego is at present in..an impermanent stage in its struggle towards the adult level of the reality-principle.
1954 D. Riesman Individualism Reconsidered xxii. 345 By the reality principle alone, mankind could not be governed.
1957 N. Frye Anat. Crit. (1971) ii. 75 In literature, what entertains is prior to what instructs,..the reality-principle is subordinate to the pleasure-principle.
1976 S. Hynes Auden Generation vi. 185 It is the existence of Europe, and not any political doctrine that is the reality principle here.
2002 Columbia Law Rev. 102 1478 Children are less under the sway of the reality principle, more under that of the pleasure principle.
reality programming n. originally U.S. = reality television n.
ΚΠ
1962 Public Opinion Q. 26 502 When the broadcaster presents fantasy, children attend by the millions, while parents and educators complain; when he presents reality programming, the critics applaud but few children..watch.
1980 Time 29 Sept. 83 He assumes that what interests him will interest his audience. This assumption should prove to be correct provided that the audience can forget the banality of That's Incredible!, Those Amazing Animals and the rest of what is mislabeled ‘reality programming’.
1998 Guardian 12 Feb. ii. 7/3 It is called reality programming. Life soaps, popular documentary, factual entertainment.
reality show n. originally U.S. an artificial representation of reality; spec. a television programme that focuses on non-fictional subject matter, primarily with the aim of providing entertainment rather than information; cf. reality-based adj., reality television n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme
dramedy1905
news film1912
sex comedy1915
television adaptation1935
action comedy1936
sportcast1939
teleshopper1949
telethon1949
special1952
television special1952
TV special1952
science-fictioner1953
spectacular1954
promo1955
sitcom1956
spec1959
spin-off1959
reality programming1962
teleroman1964
mockumentary1965
serialization1965
talk show1965
laugh-in1967
novela1968
reality show1968
breakfast television1971
spy series1975
reality television1978
reality TV1980
series1988
shockumentary1988
1968 H. S. Thompson Let. 18 Oct. in Fear & Loathing in Amer. (2000) 139 The inference that Kesey staged gang-rapes for journalistic tours..makes me wonder what sort of crippled reality-show I'm contributing to by writing ‘journalism’.
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 4 Feb. b1 ‘American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary’, a two-hour ABC special..[is] not a reality show. Nor is it a history of pop music—a rock ‘Roots’.
1999 Australian 13 May (Brisbane ed.) (Media Suppl.) 20/2 ‘Reality shows’ are nothing more than the televisual equivalent of slowing down to get a better look at a car accident, tarted up as documentary.
2004 Eve Dec. 80/3 Velvet-voiced Tony Hadley won ITV's reality show Reborn in the USA in 2003 and has just released his scathing Spandau-Ballet-bashing autobiography.
reality television n. originally U.S. television programmes that focus on non-fictional subject matter, primarily with the aim of providing entertainment rather than information; this style of programme regarded as a television genre; cf. reality-based adj., reality show n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme
dramedy1905
news film1912
sex comedy1915
television adaptation1935
action comedy1936
sportcast1939
teleshopper1949
telethon1949
special1952
television special1952
TV special1952
science-fictioner1953
spectacular1954
promo1955
sitcom1956
spec1959
spin-off1959
reality programming1962
teleroman1964
mockumentary1965
serialization1965
talk show1965
laugh-in1967
novela1968
reality show1968
breakfast television1971
spy series1975
reality television1978
reality TV1980
series1988
shockumentary1988
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > a television broadcast > types of
nemo1927
telecinema1928
teletalkie1929
telecine1935
colourcast1947
schools television1952
pilot1953
instructional television1954
telepolitics1958
tele-vérité1964
access1970
telefilm1971
bottle show1976
reality television1978
bottle episode2003
1978 Newsweek (Nexis) 20 Mar. 71 The pilot episode shows a Washington, D.C., surgeon treating two severely burned children (one of whom dies) and, later, playing poker and driving his Jeep. ‘This will be reality television’, promises NBC programing head Paul Klein. ‘No actors will ever be used.’
1989 Wall St. Jrnl. b1/5 Viewers will see Paramount's Tabloid, another entry in the hot genre of ‘reality television’.
1997 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 6 May 24/1 While it is a form of reality television, in that ordinary families filmed themselves in ‘real’ situations in their homes, Home Truths was not a project that grew organically.
2001 Brill's Content Feb. 81/1 My obsession with reality television began when America's did: in the early nineties, with the debut of Cops, America's Most Wanted, and Rescue 911.
reality test n. [after German Realitätsprüfung (1912 in the passage translated in quot. 1925)] Psychoanalysis a test to evaluate an emotion or thought against real life; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > [noun] > specific tests or testing > in real-life context
reality-testing1916
reality test1920
1920 A. Tridon Psychoanal. & Behavior iii. vi. 178 The masses of the population can only reach one conclusion: that is that, while ethics, morality and honesty are very fine in theory, they are non-existent when tried by the reality test.
1925 M. N. Searl tr. S. Freud Formulations Two Principles in Mental Functioning in Coll. Papers IV. 20 Their entire disregard of the reality-test [Ger. Realitätsprüfung].
1996 Sky Mag. Oct. 199/3 Today I'm putting his charisma to the reality test, turning up the Liam volume to the max, coming on with 'ard gobby northern attitude and arrogance.
reality-test v. Psychoanalysis transitive to evaluate (an emotion or thought) against real life; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > try or test [verb (transitive)] > in specific conditions
static-test1922
field-test1938
reality-test1958
production-test1960
1958 F. Heider Psychol. Interpersonal Relations v. 140 As believing may be confirmed or contradicted by perception, so liking may be ‘reality tested’ by the enjoyment or displeasure aroused by the direct contact.
1968 N. N. Holland in G. Levine & W. Madden Art Victorian Prose 333 The more we reality-test a work of literature, the more we become aware of the reality of ourselves as separate beings.
2004 J. D. Beder Voices of Bereavement iii. 34 The feelings of guilt are to be reality tested by the counselor, as often these feelings are irrational.
reality-tested adj. chiefly Psychology evaluated against real life; also in extended use.
ΚΠ
1960 L. Pincus Marriage i. 19 Some remnants of ego (reality-tested experience) may..be repressed.
2007 Daily Variety (Nexis) 4 June 16 Together they represent formidable, reality-tested antagonists to Hamlet's idealistic and intellectually-based humanism.
reality-testing n. [after German Realitätsprüfung (1912 in the passage translated in quot. 1925)] Psychoanalysis the objective evaluation of an emotion or thought against real life, as a faculty present in normal individuals but defective in some psychotics; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > [noun] > specific tests or testing > in real-life context
reality-testing1916
reality test1920
1916 E. Jones tr. S. Ferenczi Contrib. Psycho-anal. 200 Since..this earlier kind of ‘reality-testing’ is incomprehensible to the present ego of the neurotic, there is nothing to prevent its being placed at the disposal of the repression, and used for the presentation of censured feeling- and thought-complexes.
1925 M. N. Searl tr. S. Freud Formulations Two Principles in Mental Functioning in Coll. Papers IV. 16 One mode of thought-activity was split off; it was kept free from reality-testing [Ger. Realitätsprüfung] and remained subordinated to the pleasure-principle alone.
1955 M. Laserowitz Struct. of Metaphysics ii. 72 These then contribute their psychic charge, which both intensifies our feeling of disquietude and weakens our reality-testing abilities.
1974 S. A. Renshon Psychol. Needs & Polit. Behav. iv. 44 The principle of adequate reality testing allows us to come to grips with this problem.
1994 H. Bloom Western Canon iii. xiv. 347 Both novelists..entered massively into the realm of what Freud called ‘reality testing’, though without the final Freudian wisdom of making friends with the necessity of dying.
reality therapy n. originally U.S. (a) Psychology a type of psychotherapy which emphasizes responsible decision-making as a means to fulfil one's psychological needs and personal goals; (b) gen. exposure to what is regarded as a realistic perspective, conceived of as a corrective to misapprehension or unrealistic expectations.
ΚΠ
1951 Group Psychotherapy 4 113 (heading) Reality Testing and Reality Therapy. The psychoanalytic situation is poorly suited to reality testing.
1964 Los Angeles Times 7 June (Sunday Calendar) 14/4 Lectures... ‘Reality Therapy’, by Dr. William Glasser.
1979 Washington Post (Nexis) 30 Dec. c3 We call it reality therapy... If it scares them, so be it.
2003 K. A. Fall et al. Theoret. Models Counseling & Psychotherapy 258 In reality therapy, clients are not depressed without a choice in the matter but are, instead, choosing to depress.
2005 Newsday (N.Y.) (Nexis) 3 Oct. a34 He gave bureaucrats in the region a salubrious dose of reality therapy.
reality TV n. originally U.S. = reality television n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme
dramedy1905
news film1912
sex comedy1915
television adaptation1935
action comedy1936
sportcast1939
teleshopper1949
telethon1949
special1952
television special1952
TV special1952
science-fictioner1953
spectacular1954
promo1955
sitcom1956
spec1959
spin-off1959
reality programming1962
teleroman1964
mockumentary1965
serialization1965
talk show1965
laugh-in1967
novela1968
reality show1968
breakfast television1971
spy series1975
reality television1978
reality TV1980
series1988
shockumentary1988
1980 Washington Post 20 Aug. B8/2 There are fresh episodes of its ‘reality’ TV series..to whet viewers' appetites while everybody waits for the actors' strike to end.
1988 Time (Electronic ed.) 16 May (heading) Fact vs. Fiction on ‘Reality TV’: New shows blur the line, raising ethics and aesthetics questions.
2000 New Scientist 7 Oct. 45/2 Viewers get jaded very quickly and want to see reality TV that degrades and demeans participants—for their entertainment, like a modern-day Roman circus.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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