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Lexicon.

realism

noun [ˈɹiəlɪzəm]
pronunciation CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Realism is seeing things as they actually are and acting accordingly; in art, true-to-life depiction; in philosophy, the view that reality exists independently of the mind.

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Definitions

  1. The habit of judging situations by the facts as they are, without wishful thinking, and of setting goals that can actually be reached.
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  2. In art and literature: the aim of showing people, places and events as they look and happen in ordinary life, without making them finer or more dramatic than they are.
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  3. In philosophy: the view that the world and the things in it are there whether or not any mind notices them or forms ideas about them; in medieval debates, the view that general kinds are real and not mere names.
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  4. In politics and international relations: an approach that explains the behaviour of states mainly through power, security and national interest rather than ideals or law.
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  5. The quality of seeming real or convincing, for example in a film, a game or a description.
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Examples

Usage

In everyday English realism is usually a compliment. A realistic person sees the limits of time, money and human nature and plans with them in mind, so calls for realism often come in discussions of budgets, deadlines and negotiations. Phrases like a sense of realism or a healthy dose of realism suggest calm good judgement. Used more sharply, the word can also excuse low ambition, as when someone defends giving up on a goal by saying they are only being realistic.

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In the arts realism names both a general quality and a historical movement. As a quality it describes any work that feels true to life, from a detailed painting to a film with natural dialogue. As a movement it refers to nineteenth century painting and fiction that turned away from heroic and romantic subjects towards ordinary people and everyday settings. Related labels include social realism and, in literature, magic realism, which mixes a realistic setting with impossible events.

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In philosophy realism is the opposite of several positions at once. Against idealism it holds that objects exist whether or not a mind perceives them. Against nominalism, in the old dispute about universals, it holds that general kinds such as horse or redness are real and not only words. Modern debates also speak of moral realism and scientific realism, each claiming that some kind of fact exists independently of what people believe.

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In its 1913 printing, Webster's dictionary separates two families of meaning: philosophical realism, opposed both to nominalism and to idealism, and realism in art and literature, defined as fidelity to nature or real life and representation without idealization. Practical good sense, the most common meaning in modern conversation, has no entry of its own in that edition, and the political sense developed later in writing about international relations.

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Word forms

Regular forms according to English morphology (editorial description); the noun is mostly used without a plural.

word forms

przypadek forma
singular realism
plural realisms

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms pragmatism, practicality, common sense, level-headedness, naturalism
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Antonyms idealism, romanticism, utopianism, nominalism
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Etymology

The noun joins real with -ism. Skeat (1910) traces real to Late Latin realis, belonging to the thing itself, formed from re-, the stem of Latin res, a thing, and thinks the word was taken directly from Late Latin because of the famous medieval disputes between the Realists and the Nominalists. He lists realism, realist and realistic among the derived words. Webster (1913) compares realism with French réalisme and realist with French réaliste.
source W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source
also Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Related words

Related entries

Questions and answers

What does realism mean?

Realism means seeing things as they really are and acting on that basis. The word also names true-to-life art and the philosophical position that reality is there whether or not any mind is observing.

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What is the difference between realism and idealism?

A realist focuses on how things are, an idealist on how they ought to be. In philosophy realism says objects exist apart from any mind, which idealism denies or questions.

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Is realism the same as pessimism?

No. Pessimism expects the worst, while realism tries to judge a situation accurately, so a realistic view can bring good news just as often as bad news.

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What is realism in art?

In art, realism means depicting ordinary people and scenes the way they look in daily life, without making them grander or prettier. The term also refers to a nineteenth century movement in painting and fiction that focused on ordinary subjects.

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