Meanings
- pluralplural onlyObjects from real life or from the real world, as opposed to theoretical constructs or fabricated examples.
It might be possible, for example, to work backwards from the known realia of Visigothic Spain.
2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 28 - pluralplural onlyhuman sciencesWords and expressions for culture-specific material elements.
- pluralplural onlylibrariescomputingPhysical objects in a library collection that do not fit into traditional categories of media, whose media are the objects themselves, as opposed to their informational content, such as artifacts, tools, memorabilia, and naturally-occurring specimens.
"We acquire entire collections of materials for research purposes," explains Saundra Taylor, curator of manuscripts at the Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington. "That inevitably includes something that's not books or manuscripts."
2002 April 14, Lev Grossman, “Catalog This”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 21 May 2021, Education Life, page 26
Origin
- Late Latinrealia
- Englishrealia
From Late Latin realia, neuter plural of realis (“real”).
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French realia
- realiareal objects or facts
Hungarian reália
- reáliareal objects or facts
Norwegian realia
- realiareal objects or facts
Polish realia
- realiareal objects or facts
Russian реа́лия
- реа́лия (reálija)real objects or facts
Spanish realia
- realiareal objects or facts
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with realia
Anagrams
Cite this entry
realia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/realia
“realia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/realia. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “realia,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/realia.
Source: realia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.