Dictionary

realise en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From real + -ise, possibly from French réaliser and Middle French réaliser (“to make real; to convert (something) into assets or cash”). See realize.

Meanings

1. Non-Oxford British standard spelling of realize.
   • Do you reckon Hissing Sid realises what a shagnasty that Mary is? 2004, Pip Granger, The Widow Ginger:
   • Utterly helpleſs, thou wert ſinking for ever, and realiſedſt not the fearfulneſs of thy poſition, for thus wert thou born and nurtured. 1865, [Henry] Suso, “Light after Darkness”, in [anonymous], transl., Spiritual Voices from the Middle Ages. […], London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC, part V (Of the State of Grace), paragraph 97, pages 75–76:
   • A lucky purchase which he had made of shares in a copper-mine added very considerably to his wealth, and he realised with great prudence while this mine was still at its full vogue. 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Pedigree and Other Family Matters”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 10:
   • But does it matter if these so-called English words don’t exist in English at all? Baer doesn’t believe so. “I don’t think most people actually realise which are pseudo-anglicisms and which are real anglicisms,” he says. 2016 October 13, Matthew Anderson, “The foreign words that seem like English – but aren’t”, in BBC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2020:
   • As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing – a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it. 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My Weirdest and Wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68:
   • And for the first time she realised what it was to escape from the smallish perfection of England, into the grander imperfection of a great continent. 1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Journey Across”, in The Lost Girl, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 325:
   • […] Uxbridge thought it could safely ignore the railway[…]. Like many other towns which adopted similar tactics, Uxbridge soon realised its mistake. 1952 March, R. K. Kirkland, “The Railways of Uxbridge”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 147:
   • Have faith in God! He shall dispose thy lot, / Nor weep for woe thou realisest not: / They shall precede thee to the better land, / And meet and greet thee on its joyful strand. [1849], “‘Woman, Why Weepest Thou?’”, in Memorials of Bertie’s Brother and Infant Sister. […], London: Ward and Co., […], →OCLC, page 79:
   • SHE wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky. 1915, Louis Joseph Vance, “Burglary”, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 35:
   • [F]aith realiſeth the ſufferings of Chriſt; it looks upon Chriſt as the common treaſury of all grace, as the principle of life, and root of holineſs. a. 1733 (date written), Thomas Boston, “The Danger of Unworthy Communicating”, in An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, with Reference to Faith and Practice. […], 2nd edition, volume III, Edinburgh: […] Schaw and Pillans, for the Reverend Joseph Johnston, […], published 1796, →OCLC, paragraph 2, page 348:
   • All joy or ſorrovv for the happineſs or calamities of others, is produced by an act of the imagination, that realiſes the event hovvever fictitious, or approximates it hovvever remote, by placing us for a time in the condition of him vvhoſe fortune vve comtemplate; […] 1750 October 23 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. [60]. Friday, October 13. 1750.”, in The Rambler, volume III, Edinburgh: [[…] Sands, Murray, and Cochran]; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1750, →OCLC, pages 57–58:
   • In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way. 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told [online version: ‘Killer robots’ pose threat to peace and should be banned, UN warned]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2023, page 6:

Forms

Deriveds

derealise · outrealise · unrealise · realisable · unrealised · hyperrealise · disrealise · realiser · realisability · realisation · unrealisedness · unrealised · realising · realised