/ree al"i tee/ , n. , pl. realities for 3, 5-7.
1. the state or quality of being real.
2. resemblance to what is real.
3. a real thing or fact.
4. real things, facts, or events taken as a whole; state of affairs: the reality of the business world; vacationing to escape reality.
5. Philos.
a. something that exists independently of ideas concerning it.
b. something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive.
6. something that is real.
7. something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.
8. in reality , in fact or truth; actually: brave in appearance, but in reality a coward.
[ 1540-50; realitas. See REAL 1 , -ITY ]