Meanings
- idiomaticIn real life, as opposed to online, play, make believe, or theory.
I'm sure you believe posting crappy song lyrics to me will endear you to me, but in reality, you're just a daft, frightened, silly little cockfag.
2007 June 26, Erwin Hessle, “Re: Update from LaBlueGirl”, in alt.magick (Usenet)1 more example
A federal balanced budget sounds good in political speeches, but in reality the idea is simply a taxocrat's dream, as it would become a constitutional order to cover all spending, even the unnecessary, deficit kind.
1997 March 24, “Budget Amendment Would Raise Taxes”, in The Record, Bergen County, New JerseySynonyms: for real life, in practice, in real life, really · Antonyms: hypothetically, online, theoretically, virtual
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseIn real life, as opposed to online, play, make believe, or theory.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbused to imply that one would expect the fact to be the opposite of that stated; surprisingly
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Spanish en realidad, en puridad
- en realidadTranslations
- en puridadTranslations
Cite this entry
in reality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20reality
“in reality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20reality. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in reality,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20reality.
Source: in reality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.