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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

realize.

To become aware of, understand, or appreciate (a fact or situation, especially something which has been true for some time).

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɹɪə.laɪz/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɹi(.ə)ˌlaɪz/General-American/ˈɹɪə.laɪz/General-American
  1. To become aware of, understand, or appreciate (a fact or situation, especially something which has been true for some time).

    US · transitive
    He realized that he had left his umbrella on the train.
    She desperately yelled at her young daughter, frantic to make her realize what she had done.
  2. To sense (something) strongly or vividly as if real.

    US · transitive
  3. 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.

    transitive
  4. To convert (something imaginary or planned, as a goal or idea) into reality; to bring into real existence, to make real.

    transitive
    The objectives of the project were never fully realized.
  5. To achieve (one's) potential.

    reflexive · transitive
  6. 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.

    transitive
    By realizing the company’s assets, the liquidator was able to return most of the shareholders’ investments.
    Profits from the investment can be realized at any time by selling the shares.
  7. 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.

    transitive
    to realize large profits from a speculation
  8. Of an asset or property: to generate (a specific amount of money or interest) when invested or sold.

    transitive
  9. To turn (an abstract linguistic object, especially a phoneme) into a speech sound actually used in a language.

    transitive
    The southern /v/ is realized as the voiced approximant [ʋ].
  10. To obtain an entity from (an abstract group or structure).

    transitive
  11. To arrange (a musical work written for a single performer) to be performed by an orchestra; to orchestrate.

    transitive
  12. To complete (a musical work which is incomplete or not fully notated).

    transitive
  13. Chiefly in Baroque music: to play an accompaniment, harmonies, etc., based on (a figured bass).

    transitive
  14. To have an actual or real experience of (something).

    US · obsolete · transitive
  15. To become aware of or understand a fact or situation.

    intransitive
  16. To cause to seem real; to make realistic.

    intransitive
  17. To convert an asset or property into a more easily usable form such as money.

    intransitive
  18. Followed by on or upon: to acquire money or a profit from the sale of an asset or property.

    intransitive
  19. With an adverb like badly or well: of an asset or property being sold: to generate little or a lot of money.

    intransitive · obsolete
    The estate is expected to realize well as it comprises many valuable assets.
Where this word comes from

PIE word *reh₁ís Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁ís Proto-Italic *reis Classical Latin rēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Late Latin reālisder. Old French reelbor. Middle English real English real Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English realize 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).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.