a. [ LL. realis, fr. L. res, rei, a thing: cf. F. réel. Cf. Rebus. ] 1. Actually being or existing; not fictitious or imaginary; as, a description of real life. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whereat I waked, and found
Before mine eyes all real, as the dream
Had lively shadowed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. True; genuine; not artificial, counterfeit, or factitious; often opposed to ostensible; as, the real reason; real Madeira wine; real ginger. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose perfection far excelled
Hers in all real dignity. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Relating to things, not to persons. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Many are perfect in men's humors that are not greatly capable of the real part of business. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Alg.) Having an assignable arithmetical or numerical value or meaning; not imaginary. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) Pertaining to things fixed, permanent, or immovable, as to lands and tenements; as, real property, in distinction from personal or movable property. [ 1913 Webster ]

Chattels real (Law), such chattels as are annexed to, or savor of, the realty, as terms for years of land. See Chattel. --
Real action (Law), an action for the recovery of real property. --
Real assets (Law), lands or real estate in the hands of the heir, chargeable with the debts of the ancestor. --
Real composition (Eccl. Law), an agreement made between the owner of lands and the parson or vicar, with consent of the ordinary, that such lands shall be discharged from payment of tithes, in consequence of other land or recompense given to the parson in lieu and satisfaction thereof. Blackstone. --
Real estate or
Real property, lands, tenements, and hereditaments; freehold interests in landed property; property in houses and land. Kent. Burrill. --
Real presence (R. C. Ch.), the actual presence of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist, or the conversion of the substance of the bread and wine into the real body and blood of Christ; transubstantiation. In other churches there is a belief in a form of real presence, not however in the sense of transubstantiation. --
Real servitude, called also
Predial servitude (Civil Law), a burden imposed upon one estate in favor of another estate of another proprietor. Erskine. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Actual; true; genuine; authentic. -- Real, Actual. Real represents a thing to be a substantive existence; as, a real, not imaginary, occurrence. Actual refers to it as acted or performed; and, hence, when we wish to prove a thing real, we often say, “It actually exists, ” “It has actually been done.” Thus its reality is shown by its actuality. Actual, from this reference to being acted, has recently received a new signification, namely, present; as, the actual posture of affairs; since what is now in action, or going on, has, of course, a present existence. An actual fact; a real sentiment. [ 1913 Webster ] For he that but conceives a crime in thought,
Contracts the danger of an actual fault. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] Our simple ideas are all real; all agree to the reality of things. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Royal; regal; kingly. [ Obs. ] “The blood real of Thebes.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sp., fr. real royal, L. regalis. See Regal, and cf. Ree a coin. ] A former small Spanish silver coin; also, a denomination of money of account, formerly the unit of the Spanish monetary system. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A
real of plate (coin) varied in value according to the time of its coinage, from 121/2 down to 10 cents, or from 61/2 to 5 pence sterling. The
real vellon, or money of account, was nearly equal to five cents, or 21/2 pence sterling. In 1871 the coinage of Spain was assimilated to that of the Latin Union, of which the franc is the unit. The peseta was introduced in 1868, and continued as the official currency of Spain (splitting temporarily into Nationalist and Republican pesetas during the civil war of the 1930's) until 2002. In 2002, the euro became the official currency of Spain and most other nations of the European Union. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]

n. A realist. [ Obs. ] Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. réalgar, Sp. rejalgar, Ar. rahj al ghār powder of the mine. ] (Min.) Arsenic sulphide, a mineral of a brilliant red color; red orpiment. It is also an artificial product. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To align anew or better; as, realign the wheels of my car; realign my jaw. Usually used without the hyphen. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cf. F. réalisme. ] 1. (Philos.) (a) As opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions. According to realism the Universal exists ante rem (Plato), or in re (Aristotle). (b) As opposed to idealism, the doctrine that in sense perception there is an immediate cognition of the external object, and our knowledge of it is not mediate and representative. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Art & Lit.) Fidelity to nature or to real life; representation without idealization, and making no appeal to the imagination; adherence to the actual fact. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. the practise of assessing facts and the probabilities of the consequences of actions in an objective manner; avoidance of unrealistic or impractical beliefs or efforts. Contrasted to idealism, self-deception, overoptimism, overimaginativeness, or visionariness. [ PJC ]

n. [ Cf. F. réaliste. ] 1. (Philos.) One who believes in realism; esp., one who maintains that generals, or the terms used to denote the genera and species of things, represent real existences, and are not mere names, as maintained by the nominalists. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Art. & Lit.) An artist or writer who aims at realism in his work. See Realism, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. a person who avoids unrealistic or impractical beliefs or efforts. Contrasted to idealist or visionary. [ PJC ]

a. Of or pertaining to the realists; in the manner of the realists; characterized by realism rather than by imagination. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a realistic manner. [ 1913 Webster ]