realize

verb

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

(transitive) (chiefly passive voice, slightly formal) To convert (something imaginary or planned, as a goal or idea) into reality; to bring into real existence, to make real.

(transitive) (business, finance) 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) (business, finance) 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) (business, finance) Of an asset or property: to generate (a specific amount of money or interest) when invested or sold.

(transitive) (reflexive) To achieve (one's) potential.

(intransitive) To become aware of or understand a fact or situation.

(intransitive) To cause to seem real; to make realistic.

(transitive) 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) To sense (something) strongly or vividly as if real.

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

(transitive) (mathematics) To obtain an entity from (an abstract group or structure).

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

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

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

(intransitive) (business, finance) To convert an asset or property into a more easily usable form such as money.

(intransitive) (business, finance) Followed by on or upon: to acquire money or a profit from the sale of an asset or property.

(transitive) (obsolete, US) To have an actual or real experience of (something).

(transitive) (originally chiefly Canada, US)

(intransitive) (business, finance) (obsolete) With an adverb like badly or well: of an asset or property being sold: to generate little or a lot of money.

Roots

resreal- · Latin · thing, matter

Synonyms for realize

understandv recognizev actualizev perceivev comprehendv cognizev knowv seev makev imaginev discernv envisionv appreciatev graspv gainn accomplishv achievev

Synonyms & related words for realize

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of realize — including understand, recognize, actualize, perceive, comprehend, cognize. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to realize

Explore words related to realize — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include realization, aware, think, knew, nonthinking, impercipient, acknowledge, imperception. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for realize

Common synonyms for realize include understand, recognize, actualize, perceive, comprehend, cognize, know, see — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does realize come from?

The word realize breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root real-, from Latin res (“thing, matter”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.