realize
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɪə.laɪz/
ipa: /ˈɹi(.ə)ˌlaɪz/
ipa: /ˈɹɪə.laɪz/
Forms: form: realizes
form: realizing
form: realized
form: realized
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: realize
form: realize
form: realized
form: realize
form: realizest
form: realized
form: realizedst
form: realizes
form: realizeth
form: realized
form: realize
form: realized
form: realize
form: realized
form: realize
form: -
form: realizing
form: realized
form: realise
Etymology: PIE word
 *reh₁ís
From real (adjective) + -ize (suffix denoting the making of what is indicated by the word it is attached to), possibly modelled after French réaliser, Middle French réaliser (“to make real; to convert (something) into assets or cash”), from real (“actual, real”) + -iser (suffix denoting the making of what is indicated by the word it is attached to). Real is derived from Old French reel, from Latin reālis (“actual, real”), from rēs (“deed; event; matter; thing”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“goods; wealth”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship).
Senses: examples: text: He realized that he had left his umbrella on the train.
text: She desperately yelled at her young daughter, frantic to make her realize what she had done.
text: [S]he cannot realize the change we must undergo. She has no idea of poverty but in the abstract: she has only read of it in poetry, where it is allied to love.
ref: 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Wife”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 49:
text: But Scott, unaccountable as it seems, evidently failed to realize how far superior is Clara Mowbray [in Saint Ronan's Well] to all his other heroines of the same rank or class.
ref: 1825–1832, Algernon Charles Swinburne, “The Journal of Sir Walter Scott”, in Studies in Prose and Poetry, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 17:
text: Have faith in God! He shall dispose thy lot, / Nor weep for woe thou realisest not: / They shall precede thee to the better land, / And meet and greet thee on its joyful strand.
ref: [1849], “‘Woman, Why Weepest Thou?’”, in Memorials of Bertie’s Brother and Infant Sister. […], London: Ward and Co., […], →OCLC, page 79:
text: For so bight and placid was the farewell voyage of the little spirit [of a child], […] that it was impossible to realize that it was death that was approaching.
ref: 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Death”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume II, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 109:
text: Utterly helpleſs, thou wert ſinking for ever, and realiſedſt not the fearfulneſs of thy poſition, for thus wert thou born and nurtured.
ref: 1865, [Henry] Suso, “Light after Darkness”, in [anonymous], transl., Spiritual Voices from the Middle Ages. […], London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC, part V (Of the State of Grace), paragraph 97, pages 75–76:
text: No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or[…]. And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:
text: Praise be to God! thou realizest that wine / is a juice that frees the heart from a hundred pains.
ref: 1898, Omar Khayyam, “Quatrains of Omar Khayyām (Ousely MS., 140, Bodleian Library, Oxford): Quatrain 81”, in Edward Heron-Allen, transl., The Ruba’iyat of Omar Khayyām: A Facsimile of the MS in the Bodleian Library […], London: H. S. Nichols, →OCLC, page 14:
text: SHE wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.
ref: 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, page 378, column 1:
text: I realized at once that indescribable quiver in the air of momentous events.
ref: 1916 January, Hugh Walpole, “The Forest”, in The Dark Forest, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, part II, page 245:
text: And for the first time she realised what it was to escape from the smallish perfection of England, into the grander imperfection of a great continent.
ref: 1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Journey Across”, in The Lost Girl, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 325:
text: […] Uxbridge thought it could safely ignore the railway[…]. Like many other towns which adopted similar tactics, Uxbridge soon realised its mistake.
ref: 1952 March, R. K. Kirkland, “The Railways of Uxbridge”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 147:
text: Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?
ref: 2000 June – 2002 April (date recorded), Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Dave Fridmann, Michael Ivins, “Do You Realize??”, in Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, performed by The Flaming Lips, Burbank, Calif.: Warner Brothers Records, published 16 July 2002, →OCLC:
text: In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
ref: 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told [online version: ‘Killer robots’ pose threat to peace and should be banned, UN warned]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2023, page 6:
text: As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing – a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.
ref: 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My Weirdest and Wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68:
glosses: To become aware of, understand, or appreciate (a fact or situation, especially something which has been true for some time).
examples: text: Over the mind of the tourist, visiting the Old World for the first time,—countries where have transpired thrilling events recorded in history, what an immensity of thought and feeling sweeps! It was thus with Natalie; she could not realize that she was treading in the footsteps of royalty, who living in long past days, had held sway over this land, had looked upon this land of "merrie England" as their home.
ref: 1859, Ferna Vale [pseudonym; Emma V. Hallett], “We are Going Home”, in Natalie; or, A Gem among the Sea-weeds. […], Andover, Mass.: W[arren] F[ales] Draper, →OCLC, page 286:
text: That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
ref: 1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter II (The Science of Deduction), page 9:
glosses: To sense (something) strongly or vividly as if real.
examples: text: Its true that Faith may be ſaid, as you ſpeak, to Realize ſalvation to the Soul; that is, vvhen the Soul doubteth vvhether there be indeed ſuch a Glory and Salvation to be expected and enjoyed by Believers, as Chriſt hath promiſed, here Faith apprehendeth it as Real or Certain, and ſo reſolves the doubt.
ref: 1654, Richard Baxter, “Rich. Baxter’s Account Given to His Reverend Brother Mr T[homas] Blake of the Reasons of his Dissent from the Doctrine of His Exceptions in His Late Treatise of the Covenants. §. 73.”, in Rich. Baxter’s Apology against the Modest Exceptions of Mr. T[homas] Blake and the Digression of Mr. G[eorge] Kendall. […], London: […] A. M. for Thomas Underhill, […], and Francis Tyton […], →OCLC, pages 130–131:
text: [T]rue Faith is ſuch as realizeth Things abſent, remote and future. That it is not the nearneſs of a thing makes it real; but Faith ſeeth a Thing to be real, though afar off; vvhen vve are apt to judge many times of the reality of things, becauſe they are near.
ref: 1684, [anonymous], “The Life of Mr. Henry Dorney”, in Henry Dorney, Divine Contemplations, and Spiritual Breathings of Mr. Henry Dorney: […], London: […] James Rawlins, for John Wright, […], →OCLC, pages 16–17:
text: [I]t vvas ſo vvarm in my Imagination, and ſo realiz'd to me, that to the Hour I ſavv them, I could not be perſuaded, but that it vvas or vvould be true; […]
ref: 1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 4:
text: [F]aith realiſeth the ſufferings of Chriſt; it looks upon Chriſt as the common treaſury of all grace, as the principle of life, and root of holineſs.
ref: a. 1733 (date written), Thomas Boston, “The Danger of Unworthy Communicating”, in An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, with Reference to Faith and Practice. […], 2nd edition, volume III, Edinburgh: […] Schaw and Pillans, for the Reverend Joseph Johnston, […], published 1796, →OCLC, paragraph 2, page 348:
text: The terror they [apprehensions] gave me, ſeveral times avvakened me; but ſtill, as I cloſed my eyes, I fell into them again. VVhence, my dear, proceed theſe ideal vagaries, vvhich, for the time, realize pain or pleaſure to us, according to their hue or complexion, or rather according to our ovvn?
ref: 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXV. Miss Byron. In Continuation.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume V, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 238:
text: PUFF. But take care, my dear Dangle, the morning gun is going to fire. [Cannon fires.] / DANGLE. VVell, that vvill have a fine effect. / PUFF. I think ſo, and helps to realize the ſcene.— […]
ref: 1781, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic: Or A Tragedy Rehearsed […], London: […] T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 64:
text: All joy or ſorrovv for the happineſs or calamities of others, is produced by an act of the imagination, that realiſes the event hovvever fictitious, or approximates it hovvever remote, by placing us for a time in the condition of him vvhoſe fortune vve comtemplate; […]
ref: 1750 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. [60]. Saturday, October 13. 1750.”, in The Rambler, volume III, Edinburgh: [[…] Sands, Murray, and Cochran]; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1750, →OCLC, pages 57–58:
text: The child realizes to every man his own earliest remembrance, and so supplies a defect in our education, or enables us to live over the unconscious history with a sympathy so tender as to be almost personal experience.
ref: 1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Domestic Life”, in Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, pages 94–95:
text: The broken form in which the older Greek inscriptions have been preserved to us, though impairing, is far from destroying their value. […] Many coincidences, slight as well as important, soon begin to appear in them which realize ancient history to us.
ref: 1881, B[enjamin] Jowett, “On Inscriptions of the Age of Thucydides […]”, in Thucydides Translated into English, volume II (Containing the Notes […]), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, page xiv:
text: Drawings appear fully realized in his mind's eye at a furious rate, before he even picks up his pencil.
ref: 1996, Alan Brown, Audrey Hepburn’s Neck […], New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 277:
text: Every action that realizes a dream or desire unrealizes it in reality.
ref: 2002, Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet:
text: We explore the theoretical possibilities of realizing a high-fidelity two-qubit quantum operation necessary for the purification protocol with the help of a postselective balanced homodyne photodetection.
ref: 2015, József Zsolt Bernád, Juan Mauricio Torres, Ludwig Kunz, Gernot Alber, “Multiphoton states assisted entanglement purification of material qubits”, in arXiv:
antonyms: derealize
glosses: To cause (something) to seem real; to make realistic; specifically, to present (something) clearly to the mind, a person, (archaic) oneself, etc., so that it seems real.
examples: text: Near-synonyms: implement, execute; actualize, materialize, embody; accomplish
text: The objectives of the project were never fully realized.
text: The Apoſtle ſaith, That by Adam ſinne entred into the vvorld. It ſufficeth to knovv; That God, by juſt imputation, realizeth the infection into the vvhole race of Adam; in vvhom vve vvere as in a common Lumpe, and in his leaven ſovvred: […]
ref: 1640, Ezekias [i.e., Hezekiah] Woodward, “The Preface, Shewing the Necessitie and Worth of a Vertuous Education, and may Serve as an Introduction to Dutie”, in A Childes Patrimony. Laid out upon the Good Nurture, or Tilling over the Whole Man. […], London: […] I[ohn] L[egate] and are to be sold by Henry Overton, […], →OCLC, pages 44–45:
text: [I]f vve defæcate the notion from materiality, […] it vvill be as hard to apprehend, as that an empty vviſh ſhould remove Mountains: a ſuppoſition vvhich if realized, vvould relieve Siſyphus.
ref: 1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter III, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 22:
text: [W]e realize vvhat Archimedes had only in Hypotheſis; vveighing a ſingle grain againſt the Globe of Earth.
ref: 1665, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XVII, in Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 102:
text: Rich Death, that realizes all my Cares, / Toils, Virtues, Hopes; vvithout it, a Chimera!
ref: 1742, [Edward Young], “Night the Third. Narcissa. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and T. Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 25:
text: The mention of his gentleman led us to talk of the VVeſtern Iſlands of Scotland, to viſit vvhich he expreſſed a vviſh that then appeared to me a very romantick fancy, vvhich I little thought vvould be aftervvards realized.
ref: 1791, James Boswell, “[1763]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 244:
text: […] I pleaſe myſelf vvith a viſionary anticipation of the future, vvhen my Charles vvill have finiſh'd his apprenticeſhip. […] I ſee him beloved and admired, by all; the honour and pattern of his juvenile contemporaries. O my ſon! hovv happy canſt thou make thy father! in vvhat an ecſtaſy vvilt thou transport him, if thou realizeſt this!
ref: 1790, “Appendix X”, in A New Collection of Commercial-letters for Use and Entertainment: Ein Lesebuch für diejenigen, weiche die englische Sprache in Hinsicht auf Kaufmännische Geschäfte erlernen wollen, mit grammatischen Anmerkungen, und einem erklährenden Wort- und Phrasen-Verzeichniss [A Reading Book for Those who Wish to learn the English Language with Regard to Commercial Transactions, with Grammatical Notes, and an Explanatory Word and Phrase Dictionary] (A New Collection of English Letters for Use and Entertainment; II), Nuremberg, Bavaria: C. Weigel und A. G. Schneider, page 179:
english: A Reading Book for Those who Wish to learn the English Language with Regard to Commercial Transactions, with Grammatical Notes, and an Explanatory Word and Phrase Dictionary
translation: A Reading Book for Those who Wish to learn the English Language with Regard to Commercial Transactions, with Grammatical Notes, and an Explanatory Word and Phrase Dictionary
text: At this very moment when she had undergone her most sublimated allegorical evaporation, his instinct as poet, which never failed him, realized her into woman again in those scenes of almost unapproached pathos which make the climax of his Purgatorio.
ref: 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Dante”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 76:
antonyms: disrealize
coordinate_terms: reify
qualifier: chiefly passive voice; slightly formal; chiefly passive voice; slightly formal
glosses: To convert (something imaginary or planned, as a goal or idea) into reality; to bring into real existence, to make real.
glosses: To achieve (one's) potential.
examples: text: By realizing the company’s assets, the liquidator was able to return most of the shareholders’ investments.
text: Profits from the investment can be realized at any time by selling the shares.
text: A dealer doing a large amount of business, and turning over his capital rapidly, has but a small portion of it in ready money at any one time. […] [W]hen he retires from business it is into money that he converts the whole, and not until then does he deem himself to have realized his gains: […]
ref: 1848, John Stuart Mill, “Preliminary Remarks”, in Principles of Political Economy: With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, book I (Production), page 5:
text: [H]is client was willing to realize most of his assets in order to provide for his wife and eldest daughter.
ref: 1988 October, Maeve Binchy, “Maureen”, in Silver Wedding, London: Guild Publishing, published 1988, →OCLC, page 150:
topics: business
finance
glosses: To convert (an asset or property, especially investments such as bonds, shares, etc.) into a more easily usable form such as money, especially by selling the asset or property.
examples: text: to realize large profits from a speculation
text: The tvvo Perſons here mentioned vvere of Quality, each of vvhom in the time of the Miſſiſipi deſpis'd to realize above three hundred thouſand pounds.
ref: 1735, Alexander Pope, “Notes. Epistle to Lord Bathurst, Ver. 20.”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 211:
text: Knighthood was not beyond the reach of any man who could by diligent thrift realise a good estate.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 38:
text: Rodney explained that he knew I cared about the things, and was proud of them, but he'd always supposed I meant to "realize" on them, just as he did, and that it would come to money in the end.
ref: 1925, Willa Cather, chapter VI, in The Professor’s House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, book II (Tom Outland’s Story), page 244:
topics: business
finance
glosses: To acquire (money, a profit, etc.) by selling an asset or property, through trade, etc.; also (followed by on), to make (money or a profit) on an investment, a venture, etc.
topics: business
finance
glosses: Of an asset or property: to generate (a specific amount of money or interest) when invested or sold.
examples: text: The southern /v/ is realized as the voiced approximant [ʋ].
text: The phonetic realization of schwa varies; […] Many (probably most) speakers realize it as [ø] or [œ] in other contexts as well. In Midi French, schwa is realized more frequently than in northern varieties, including in word-final position, where it generally (but not always) corresponds to etymological /ə/.
ref: 2016, John Charles Smith, “French and Northern Gallo-Romance”, in Adam Ledgeway, Martin Maiden, editors, The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages (Oxford Linguistics; Oxford Guides to the World’s Languages), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part III (Individual Structural Overviews), page 297, column 1:
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: To turn (an abstract linguistic object, especially a phoneme) into a speech sound actually used in a language.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To obtain an entity from (an abstract group or structure).
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To arrange (a musical work written for a single performer) to be performed by an orchestra; to orchestrate.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To complete (a musical work which is incomplete or not fully notated).
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Chiefly in Baroque music: to play an accompaniment, harmonies, etc., based on (a figured bass).
glosses: To have an actual or real experience of (something).
glosses: To become aware of or understand a fact or situation.
examples: text: [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe never sculptured an Apollo, nor painted a Madonna. He gives us only sinful Magdalens and rampant Fauns. He does not so much idealize as realize.
ref: 1839, [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow], “Old Humbug”, in Hyperion, a Romance. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Samuel Colman […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 179:
glosses: To cause to seem real; to make realistic.
examples: text: A lucky purchase which he had made of shares in a copper-mine added very considerably to his wealth, and he realised with great prudence while this mine was still at its full vogue.
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Pedigree and Other Family Matters”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 10:
text: Wary men took the alarm, and began to realize, a word now first brought into use to express the conversion of ideal property into something real.
ref: 1855, Washington Irving, “[A Time of Unexampled Prosperity.] The Great Mississippi Bubble.”, in Wolfert’s Roost and Other Papers, […], New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam & Co., […], →OCLC, page 174:
topics: business
finance
glosses: To convert an asset or property into a more easily usable form such as money.
topics: business
finance
glosses: Followed by on or upon: to acquire money or a profit from the sale of an asset or property.
examples: text: The estate is expected to realize well as it comprises many valuable assets.
topics: business
finance
glosses: With an adverb like badly or well: of an asset or property being sold: to generate little or a lot of money.
Derived terms: word: derealize
word: disrealize
word: hyperrealize
word: outrealize
word: realizable
word: realization
word: realized
word: realizer
word: realizing
word: unrealize
word: unrealized
word: unrealizedness
Related terms: real
realism
realistic
reality