Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Realism |
RealismNoun1. The attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth. 2. The state of being actual or real: "the reality of his situation slowly dawned on him". 3. The philosophical doctrine that physical object continue to exist when not perceived. 4. An artistic movement in 19th century France; artists and writers strove for detailed realistic and factual description. 5. The philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names. 6. Genre of art and literature that represents events and social conditions as they actually are (without idealization). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "realism" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1790. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Satire | REALISM, n. The art of depicting nature as it is seem by toads. The charm suffusing a landscape painted by a mole, or a story written by a measuring-worm. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In the visual arts and literature, realism is a mid-19th century movement, which started in France. The realists sought to render everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and events; all in an "accurate" (or realistic) manner. Realism began as a reaction to romanticism, in which subjects were treated idealistically.
Realism in visual arts: Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet
The movement is anticipated by the work of the French author Stendhal, but the "father" of realism is generally thought to be Honoré de Balzac. His Comédie Humaine is a panoramic view of 19th-century France in over 70 novels. Gustave Flaubert clearly defined the movement with his brilliant novel of the bourgeois Madame Bovary. Balzac and especially Flaubert influenced to a high degree the later realists and naturalists: Guy de Maupassant, Joris Karl Huysmans, and, in England, George Eliot.
By 1890, many began to reject realism, thinking it too external and superficial. Modified versions, however, were employed by such authors as Thomas Hardy, who realistically presented extreme pessimism, and Henry James, who sought to understand his characters psychologically.
At the turn of the 20th century, realism as a dominant movement in France gave way to symbolism and neo-romanticism.
Realism in Philosophy
Confusingly, various philosophical unrelated positions, in some cases diametrically opposed ones, are termed "realism." In large measure this depends on which debates are active at the time, and may be encouraged by the fact that a philosophical position often looks stronger if you attach the word "real" to it.
The oldest use of the term comes from Medieval interpretations of Greek philosophy. Here "realism" is contrasted with "conceptualism" and "nominalism" (or Platonism). This can be called "realism about universals." Universals are terms or properties that can be applied to many things, rather than denoting a single specific individual--for example, red, beauty, five, or dog, as opposed to Socrates or Athens. Realism holds that these universals really exist, independently and somehow prior to the world; it is associated with Plato. Conceptualism holds that they exist, but only insofar as they are instantiated in specific things; they do not exist separately. Nominalism holds that universals do not "exist" at all; they are no more than words we use to describe specific objects, they do not name anything. This particular dispute over realism is largely moot in contemporary philosophy, and has been for centuries.
In another sense realism is contrasted with idealism'' In still a third, and very contemporary sense realism is contrasted with anti-realism
Both these disputes are often carried out relative to some specific area: one might, for example, be a realist about physical matter but an anti-realist about ethics.
Increasingly these last disputes too are rejected as misleading, and some philosophers prefer to call the kind of realism espoused there "metaphyiscal realism," and eschew the whole debate in favour of simple "naturalism" or "natural realism", which is not so much a theory as the position that these debates are ill-conceived if not incoherent, and that there is no more to deciding what's really real than simply taking our words at face value.
See also: anti-realism, legal realism, magical realism, socialist realism, fantastic realism.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Realism."
Synonyms: RealismSynonyms: naive realism (n), naturalism (n), reality (n), realness (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: unreality (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Truth | Orthology; ipsissima verba; realism. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Realism |
| English words defined with "realism": Giacomo Puccini, Gogol ♦ Kurt Vonnegut ♦ magic realism ♦ naive realism, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol ♦ Puccini ♦ realistic ♦ Vonnegut. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "realism": computer ethics. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Realism" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Romanian (realism), Swedish (realism, truth). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I don't want realism. I want magic! (A Streetcar Named Desire; writing credit: Tennessee Williams; Oscar Saul) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Too Much Realism (1911) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Oscar Wilde | While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance. |
| I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Tunisia | Tunisia has long been a voice for moderation and realism in the Middle East. (references) |
Japan | Optimism about the opportunities in this four and a half trillion-dollar economy must be tempered with realism. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Right now we need both realism and idealism. |
George Bush | 1989-1993 | We are a nation of rock-solid realism and clear-eyed idealism. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Realism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.77% of the time. "Realism" is used about 879 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.77% | 877 | 8,104 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.11% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.11% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 879 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "realism": magic realism ♦ naive realism. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "realism": anti-realism, Neo-realism. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
realism | 470 |
magical realism | 50 |
magic realism | 46 |
art realism | 42 |
cs realism | 36 |
realism literature | 27 |
cs pack realism | 17 |
realism painting | 16 |
social realism | 15 |
american realism | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "realism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | realizëm (reality). (various references) | |
Arabic | مذهب الواقعية, الواقعية. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | реализъм (reality, representationalism). (various references) | |
Chinese | 现实主义 (realistic). (various references) | |
Czech | realismus. (various references) | |
Danish | erkendelse (cognition, emotional realization, ideational realization, realization). (various references) | |
Dutch | bewustwording (cognition, emotional realization, ideational realization, realization). (various references) | |
Farsi | واقع گراءی , واقع بینی , تحقق گراءی , راستین گراءی , رءالیسم . (various references) | |
French | réalisme, prise de conscience (emotional realization, ideational realization, realization, recollection). (various references) | |
German | Realismus. (various references) | |
Greek | ρεαλισμόσ (actuality, pragmatism), συνειδητοποίηση (consciousness, emotional realization, ideational realization, realization, recollection), πραγματισμόσ (pragmatism). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מציאותיות (existence, reality), ריאליזם. (various references) | |
Hungarian | realizmus (actuality), valószerűség (fidelity, reality). (various references) | |
Indonesian | realisme. (various references) | |
Italian | realismo. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 写実 (real picture). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | リアリズ , しゃじつしゅぎ (literalism), しゃじつ (real picture), ぼつりそう (detached perspective), '"じつしゅぎ, '"じつてき (pragmatic), じつざいろ". (various references) | |
Korean | 개념실재 . (various references) | |
Manx | rieughid (actuality, authenticity, reality), firrinaght (truthfulness). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ealismray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | realismo. (various references) | |
Romanian | realism. (various references) | |
Russian | реализм. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | realizam. (various references) | |
Spanish | realismo (emotional realization, ideational realization, realization). (various references) | |
Swedish | realism (truth). (various references) | |
Turkish | realizm, gerçekçilik (literalism, literalness). (various references) | |
Turkmen | realizm (r). (various references) | |
Ukranian | реалізм (actuality). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | veritatem imitari. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "realism": realisms. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "realism": antirealism, hyperrealism, neorealism, superrealism, surrealism, ultrarealism. (additional references) | |
Words containing "realism": antirealisms, hyperrealisms, neorealisms, superrealisms, surrealisms, ultrarealisms. (additional references) | |
| |
"Realism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: irrealism, petalism, rapism, reaim, reais, realis, realisam, realise, Realisme, realismi, realisn, realiso, realiz, realsim, reelism, Rialas, rivalism, ruralise. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "realism" (pronounced rē"li'zum) |
| 6 | -ē" l i' z u m | idealism, surrealism. |
| 5 | -l i' z u m | alcoholism, bilingualism, botulism, cannibalism, capitalism, centralism, colonialism, commercialism, dualism, embolism, emotionalism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, evangelism, factionalism, fatalism, federalism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, gradualism, imperialism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, journalism, legalism, liberalism, materialism, mercantilism, metabolism, minimalism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, nationalism, naturalism, neutralism, nihilism, parallelism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, pluralism, populism, professionalism, provincialism, racialism, radicalism, sensationalism, socialism, supernaturalism, symbolism, territorialism, vandalism. |
| 4 | -i' z u m | abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bolshevism, boosterism, catechism, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, empiricism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, fanaticism, fascism, favoritism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, illusionism, impressionism, interventionism, Irredentism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, leftism, lesbianism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, mechanism, mesmerism, methodism, microorganism, militarism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, mysticism, narcissism, nativism, negativism, nepotism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parkinsonism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, polymorphism, polytheism, positivism, pragmatism, protectionism, puritanism, racism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, statism, stoicism, synergism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism. |
| 3 | -z u m | bosom, careerism, chasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm, ism, microcosm, neoplasm, orgasm, phantasm, prism, sarcasm, schism, spasm. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: mailers, remails. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-l-m-r-s" | |
-1 letter: aimers, ariels, armies, emails, mailer, mailes, mesial, milers, ramies, realms, remail, resail, sailer, samiel, serail, serial, smiler. | |
-2 letters: aimer, aisle, almes, amies, amirs, ariel, arils, arise, arles, earls, email, emirs, lairs, lamer, lames, lares, laris, laser, lears, liars, liers, limas, limes, liras, maile, mails, mairs, males, mares, marls, marse, maser, meals, merls, miler, miles, mires, miser, rails, raise, rales, ramie, realm, reals, reams, rials, riels, riles, rimes, salmi, serai, seral, simar, slier, slime, smear, smile. | |
-3 letters: ails, aims, airs, ales, alme, alms, amie, amir, amis, ares, aril, arms, arse, earl, ears, elms, emir, eras, ilea, ires, isle, lair, lame, lams, lari, lars, lase, lear, leas, leis, liar, lier, lies, lima, lime, lira, lire, maes, mail, mair, male, mare, marl, mars, meal, mels, merl, mesa, mile, mils, mire, mirs, mise, rail, rale, rami, rams, rase, real, ream, reis, rems, rial, rias, riel, rile, rime, rims, rise, sail, sale, same, sari, seal, seam, sear, semi, sera, sial, sima, sire, slam, slim. | |
-4 letters: ail, aim, air, ais, ale, als, ami, are, arm, ars, ear, elm, els, ems, era, ers, ire, ism, lam, lar, las, lea, lei, lie, lis, mae, mar, mas, mel, mil, mir, mis, ram, ras, rei, rem, res, ria, rim, sae, sal, sea, sei, sel, ser, sim, sir, sri. | |
-5 letters: ae, ai, al, am, ar, as, el, em, er, es, is, la, li, ma, me, mi, re, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-l-m-r-s" | |
+1 letter: claimers, dismaler, gremials, impalers, impearls, lamister, lempiras, marliest, marlines, marlites, measlier, minerals, miracles, misalter, mislayer, mislearn, moralise, ramilies, realisms, reclaims. | |
+2 letters: almonries, almsgiver, amitroles, formalise, glamorise, imbalmers, imperials, inflamers, lamisters, malarkies, maligners, malingers, marbleise, marbliest, materials, materiels, memorials, milliares, millraces, misalters, miserable, miserably, mislayers, misleader, misleared, mislearns, mislearnt, misrelate, moralised, moralises, moralizes, normalise, plumerias, ramillies, remittals, rolamites, semilunar, semirural, serialism, simulacre, terminals, tramlines, verbalism, welfarism. | |
+3 letters: acclaimers, almsgivers, altimeters, amplifiers, animaliers, brambliest, bromelains, bromeliads, calamaries, caramelise, centralism, declaimers, disclaimer, exclaimers, federalism, filmmakers, formalised, formalises, formalizes, glamorised, glamorises, glamorizes, greenmails, impersonal, implanters, isothermal, lamaseries, lamebrains, liberalism, limewaters, literalism, luminaires, luminaries, madrilenes, marbleised, marbleises, marbleizes, meliorates, mercurials, microscale, militaries, militarise, milliaries, millstream, minelayers, mineralise, misaltered, miserables, mislabored, misleaders, mislearned, misrelated, misrelates, molarities, moralities, moralizers, neorealism, neutralism, normalcies, normalised, normalises, normalizes, oriflammes, overclaims, prolamines, psalterium, reimplants, relativism, resampling, revivalism, rigmaroles, rosemaling, schmalzier, secularism, semestrial, semiformal, semiyearly, serialisms, shmaltzier, simulacres, slipstream, spermatial, streamline, surrealism, thimerosal, treadmills, tularemias, verapamils, verbalisms, welfarisms. | |
+4 letters: acrylamides, admiralties, allometries, altimetries, amaryllises, ameliorates, amoralities, antirealism, aspergillum, caramelised, caramelises, caramelizes, cavalierism, centralisms, ceremonials, chloramines, clericalism, commercials, complainers, demoralizes, derailments, disclaimers, drillmaster, elastomeric, eliminators, erythrismal, externalism, familiarise, federalisms, formalities, formalizers, formularies, glamorizers, glamourizes, immortalise, imperialism, imperialist, lambrequins, lawrenciums, leprosarium, liberalisms, literalisms, littermates, magisterial, mainlanders, malingerers, marbleising, marlinspike, marshalcies, martingales, materialise, materialism, materialist, maternalism, maxillaries, mayoralties, meliorators, memorialise, memorialist, meridionals, meroblastic, microscales, militarised, militarises, militarizes, millenaries, millstreams, mineralised, mineralises, mineralizes, ministerial, misaltering, mislearning, misrelating, mortalities, neorealisms, neurilemmas, neutralisms, normalities, normalizers, orientalism, palindromes, palmistries, parallelism, parliaments, paternalism, peristomial, permillages, peroxisomal, personalism, pilgrimages, planimeters, pleinairism, primalities, proclaimers, regimentals, regionalism, relativisms, restimulate, revivalisms, rigamaroles, rosemalings, salinometer, schmaltzier, screamingly, secularisms, semidiurnal, seminatural, semipopular, semitrailer, sempiternal, slipstreams, spermicidal, streamlined, streamliner, streamlines, subterminal, superfamily, surrealisms, symmetrical, thermalizes, thimerosals, timberlands, timepleaser, tourmalines, trampolines, trigeminals, ultrasimple, verisimilar, wearisomely, wolframites. | |
+5 letters: accomplisher, acromegalics, acromegalies, aeroembolism, alkalimeters, amateurishly, ambulatories, ameliorators, antirealisms, aspergillums, asymmetrical, bicameralism, bilateralism, biomaterials, blackmailers, boilermakers, calorimeters, caramelising, cavalierisms, chamberlains, clericalisms, climacterics, criminalizes, curtailments, deformalizes, deglamorizes, demoralizers, descrambling, detrimentals, dilatometers, dimercaprols, drillmasters, emblazonries, externalisms, extramusical, familiarised, familiarises, familiarizes, familiarness, flimflammers, formularizes, fraternalism, greenmailers, hemerocallis, hyperrealism, illiberalism, immeasurable, immeasurably, immensurable, immoralities, immortalised, immortalises, immortalizes, imperialisms, imperialists, imperishable, imperishably, impersonally, infomercials, instrumental, isothermally, lamellicorns, lammergeiers, lamplighters, lampooneries, laparotomies, legerdemains, legitimators, leprosariums, malnourished, malpractices, malversation, mannerliness, marginalizes, maricultures, marlinespike, marlinspikes, masterliness, materialised, materialises, materialisms, materialists, materializes, materialness, maternalisms, matriculates, meliorations, memorialised, memorialises, memorialists, memorializes, mercantilism, mercantilist, meristically, mesmerically, metallurgies, metallurgist, microcapsule, millenarians, milliamperes, millionaires, mineralising, mineralizers, mineralogies, mineralogist, mistranslate, modularities, orientalisms, osmolarities, parallelisms, paramedicals, paternalisms, pelargoniums, personalisms, planetariums, pleinairisms, polarimeters, postimperial, preeclampsia, problematics, rambouillets, realignments, reassemblies, reassembling, reclamations, recommittals, regionalisms, reimbursable, renormalizes, restimulated, restimulates, salamandrine, salinometers, semiarboreal, semicircular, semiliterate, semitrailers, semitropical, similarities, slipstreamed, steamrolling, stigmasterol, streamliners, streamlining, stromatolite, subepidermal, summarizable, superrealism, temporalizes, tetrazoliums, timepleasers, trampoliners, ultraleftism, ultramarines, ultrarealism, universalism, unmoralities. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 65 61 6C 69 73 6D |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. . .- .-.. .. ... -- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100101 01100001 01101100 01101001 01110011 01101101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R e a l i s m |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0065 0061 006C 0069 0073 006D |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)52716778758579 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
