INDEX:
1. to notice or understand something that you did not notice or understand before
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ UNDERSTAND/NOT UNDERSTAND
↑ NOTICE/NOT NOTICE
↑ KNOW/NOT KNOW
↑ RECOGNIZE
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1. to notice or understand something that you did not notice or understand before
▷ realize also realise British /ˈrɪəlaɪz/ [intransitive/transitive verb]
▪ Tim only realized his mistake the next day.
▪ Without realising it, we had gone the wrong way.
▪ Oh, is that your chair? Sorry, I didn’t realize.
realize (that)
▪ She woke up and realised that there was someone moving around downstairs.
▷ occur to /əˈkɜːʳ tuː/ [transitive phrasal verb]
if something occurs to you, you suddenly realize that it might be true, especially when you had been thinking something completely different before :
it occurs to somebody (that)
▪ It suddenly occurred to me that maybe she was lying.
▪ Didn’t it ever occur to you that they would probably like to be alone together?
▷ become aware /bɪˌkʌm əˈweəʳ/ [verb phrase]
to slowly realize something, especially over a fairly long period of time :
become aware of
▪ I was slowly becoming aware of how much Melissa was suffering.
become aware that
▪ He became aware that the man sitting opposite was staring at him intently.
▷ sink in /ˌsɪŋk ˈɪn/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
if a fact or someone’s words sink in, you gradually realize their full meaning :
▪ The news of the President’s assassination had only just begun to sink in.
▪ Winning this tournament means so much to me. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.
▷ dawn on /ˈdɔːn ɒn/ [transitive phrasal verb]
if a fact dawns on you, you slowly start to realize it, especially when you should have realized it before :
▪ The awful truth only dawned on me later.
it dawns on somebody that
▪ It slowly dawned on her that they were all making fun of her.
it dawns on somebody how/why etc
▪ It didn’t dawn on me how seriously injured I was until I got to the hospital.
▷ strike /straɪk/ [transitive verb not in progressive]
if an idea or thought strikes you, you suddenly realize something :
it strikes somebody (that)
▪ It struck her one day, when she was walking home from school, that she hadn’t thought about her weight for over a month.
▪ It just struck me - you must have been in the same class as my brother.
▷ hit /hɪt/ [transitive verb not in progressive]
if a fact hits you, you suddenly realize its importance or its full meaning and you feel shocked :
▪ The full impact of what he’d said hit me a few hours later.
it hits somebody
▪ Suddenly it hit me. He was trying to ask me to marry him.
▷ wake up to the fact that /ˌweɪk ʌp tə ðə ˈfækt ðət/ [verb phrase]
to begin to fully realize and understand something, especially after you have avoided thinking about it because it is unpleasant or it makes you feel uncomfortable :
▪ How long will it be before people wake up to the fact that anyone can catch AIDS.
▪ The speaker warned that we must ‘wake up to the fact that we are in a tough competitive market’.
▷ it clicked /ɪt ˈklɪkt/ spoken
say this when you suddenly realize something that makes a subject or situation easy to understand :
▪ Then it clicked. The man at the station must have been her brother!
it clicked what/how/where etc
▪ Finally it clicked what all the fuss had been about.
▷ bring something home to /ˌbrɪŋ something ˈhəʊm tuː/ [verb phrase]
to make someone realize how serious, difficult, or dangerous something is :
▪ This is the last place you would expect there to be a murder. It just brings it home to you that this kind of thing can happen anywhere.
▪ It often takes something like a heart attack to bring home to people the danger of smoking.