realitynoun
uk/riˈæl.ə.ti/us/riˈæl.ə.t̬i/B2 [ S or U ] the state of things as they are, rather than as they are imagined to be:
The reality of the situation is that unless we find some new funding soon, the youth centre will have to close.
He escaped from reality by going to the cinema every afternoon.
He seemed very young, but he was in reality (= in fact) older than all of us.
B2 [ C ] a fact:
The book confronts the harsh social and political realities of the world today.
Her childhood ambition became a reality (= happened in fact) when she was made a judge.
also reality TV television programmes about ordinary people who are filmed in real situations, rather than actors:
There's too much reality on TV.
She's famous as a reality star.
More examples
- Romantic novels provide an escape from reality.
- I like the idea of living in the countryside but I'm not sure I'd like the reality.
- I sometimes think that he's losing his grasp on reality.
- The stark reality is that we are operating at a huge loss.
- This film blurs the line between reality and fantasy.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Reality and truth
- a slice of life idiom
- actuality
- apothegm
- authenticity
- fact
- gospel
- home truth
- immediacy
- McCoy
- practice
- slice
- the genuine article idiom
- the real McCoy
- the real thing 1
- the real world 2
- truism
- truth will out idiom
- veracity
- verisimilitude
- verity
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