reality

UK: /riˈælɪti/ US: /riˈælɪti/ ,(rē al′i tē)

Inflections of 'reality' (n): npl: realities

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

re•al•i•ty /riˈælɪti/   n., pl. -ties. 

1. [uncountable] the state or quality of being real.
2. a real thing or fact:
   [countable] had to face some harsh realities about ourselves.
3. real things, facts, or events thought of as a whole:
   [uncountable] reading fantasy books to escape from reality.

Idioms

4. Idioms in reality, in fact or truth;
   actually.

See -real-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

re•al•i•ty  (rē al′i tē), n., pl. -ties for 3, 5–7.

1. the state or quality of being real.
2. resemblance to what is real.
3. a real thing or fact.
4. real things, facts, or events taken as a whole;
   state of affairs:
   the reality of the business world; vacationing to escape reality.
5. Philosophy
   • something that exists independently of ideas concerning it.
   • something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive.
6. something that is real.
7. something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.
8. in reality, in fact or truth;
   actually:
   brave in appearance, but in reality a coward.

• Medieval Latin reālitās. See real¹, -ity
• 1540–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

reality / rɪˈælɪtɪ/ noun ( -ties)

1. the state of things as they are or appear to be, rather than as one might wish them to be
2. something that is real
3. the state of being real
4. that which exists, independent of human awareness
5. the totality of facts as they are, independent of human awareness of them
6. in reality ⇒ actually; in fact