re·al·i·za·tion

(rē′ə-lĭ-zā′shən)

1. The act of realizing or the condition of being realized.

2. The result of realizing.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

re•al•i•za•tion

(ˌri ə ləˈzeɪ ʃən)

n.

1. the act of realizing or the state of being realized.

2. an instance or result of realizing.

Realization

See Also: TRUTH

Awareness of failure plagued at him like a sword, twisting in his consciousness cruelly as though it had been lying in wait to murder his self-respect —Noël Coward
Began to see herself from the outside, as if she was a moving target in someone else’s binoculars —Margaret Atwood
Flash of insight as pitiless as the late-autumn light —Sharon Sheehe Stark
Horror … burst upon him like an electric storm that throws a vivid light into the darkest shadow —Mazo De La Roche
It [realization] came to her slowly as a negative being developed —Elizabeth Spencer
Knowledge penetrated my consciousness like a red-hot knife —Stefan Zweig
Light burst on me as if a window of my memory had been suddenly flung open on a street in the city —Joseph Conrad
Like a lover or lecher, the awareness came to her at night. Every perception rejoices in itself like a fire catching fire through itself —Delmore Schwartz
Like French women who can tell if a bottle of Cognac has been opened in the next room, Guido could tell what was happening at home as soon as he put his key in the lock —Laurie Colwin
Realization … dawned … like the sunrise —Donald Seaman
Realization came … like a fist knocking the wind out of her —David Leavitt
Realization grips them like a seizure —T. Coraghessan Boyle
The realization … made the nape of my neck feel like I’d just applied an ice pack —Sue Grafton
Saw as one sees a landscape in a flash of lightning —Virginia Woolf
Saw it like a thunderbolt —Clifford Odets
See it all like a chart unrolled —John Greenleaf Whittier
Suddenly, as if a wet sheet had been thrown over her, the truth of the matter strikes her —T. Coraghessan Boyle
The knowledge sank like a plummet —Jean Stafford
A thousand things … suddenly added up like a column of figures in her mind —William Humphrey
(Trifles … like a spark falling upon tinder, can) throw a flame of light into the abyss of a mind —Stefan Zweig
The truth flared in his head like a marron —Miles Gibson
The truth popped out like a jack-in-the-box —George Garrett
Trying to find it [self-knowledge] in the bosom of a Mississippi family was like trying to find some object lost in a gigantic attic, when you really didn’t know what you were looking for —Elizabeth Spencer
See Also: IMPOSSIBILITY
An uncomfortable truth had come to settle like a shroud over the … investigation —Doug Feiden
The comparison in Feiden’s novel, The $10,000,000 Getaway, pertains to the investigation of a Lufthansa airline robbery.
Understanding fell across me like a velvet curtain —Russell Banks

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	realization - coming to understand something clearly and distinctly; "a growing realization of the risk involved"; "a sudden recognition of the problem he faced"; "increasing recognition that diabetes frequently coexists with other chronic diseases" realisation, recognition discernment, savvy, understanding, apprehension - the cognitive condition of someone who understands; "he has virtually no understanding of social cause and effect"
	2.	realization - making real or giving the appearance of reality actualisation, actualization, realisation creating by mental acts - the act of creating something by thinking objectification - the act of representing an abstraction as a physical thing
	3.	realization - a musical composition that has been completed or enriched by someone other than the composer realisation musical composition, opus, piece of music, composition, piece - a musical work that has been created; "the composition is written in four movements"
	4.	realization - a sale in order to obtain money (as a sale of stock or a sale of the estate of a bankrupt person) or the money so obtained realisation cut-rate sale, sales event, sale - an occasion (usually brief) for buying at specially reduced prices; "they held a sale to reduce their inventory"; "I got some great bargains at their annual sale"
	5.	realization - the completion or enrichment of a piece of music left sparsely notated by a composer realisation composing, composition - musical creation
	6.	realization - something that is made real or concrete; "the victory was the realization of a whole year's work" fruition, realisation consummation - the act of bringing to completion or fruition

realization

noun

1. awareness, understanding, recognition, perception, imagination, consciousness, grasp, appreciation, conception, comprehension, apprehension, cognizance There is a growing realization that things cannot go on like this for much longer.

2. achievement, carrying-out, completion, accomplishment, fulfilment, consummation, effectuation the realization of his worst fears

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

realization

noun

1. The condition of being fulfilled:

consummation, culmination, fruition, fulfillment, materialization.

2. The condition of being in full force or operation:

actualization, being, effect, materialization.

3. One's artistic conception as shown by the way in which something such as a dramatic role or musical composition is rendered:

execution, interpretation, performance, reading, rendering, rendition.

Translations

pochopeníuskutečnění

erkendelseopfyldelse

Bewusstsein Realisierung

γνώση

realización comprensión

connaissance conscience prise de conscience réalisationréification

értékesítésmegvalósítás

skilningur; uppfylling

realizzazione realizzo comprensione percezione

реализация

spoznanjeuresničitev

anlamakavrama

realization

[ˌrɪəlaɪˈzeɪʃən] N

1. (= comprehension) → comprensión f, entendimiento m
she awoke to the realization that → cayó en la cuenta de que ...

2. (= completion) → realización f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

realization

[ˌrɪəlaɪˈzeɪʃ^ən] realisation (British) n

(= awareness) → prise f de conscience

(= achievement) [hopes, dreams, ambitions, fears] → réalisation f

[assets, wealth] → réalisation f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

realization

(of assets) → Realisation f, → Verflüssigung f; (of hope, plan) → Realisierung f, → Verwirklichung f; (of potential) → Verwirklichung f

(= awareness) → Erkenntnis f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

realization

[ˌrɪəlaɪˈzeɪʃ/ən] n (awareness) → presa di coscienza (frm) (of hopes, plans, assets) → realizzazione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

realize,

realise

(ˈriəlaiz) verb

1. to know; to understand. I realize that I can't have everything I want; I realized my mistake.

2. to make real; to make (something) come true. He realized his ambition to become an astronaut; My worst fears were realized.

3. to make (money) by selling something. He realized $60,000 on the sale of his apartment.

ˌrealiˈzation, ˌrealiˈsation noun

the act of realizing. the realization of his mistake/hopes.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Vronsky, meanwhile, in spite of the complete realization of what he had so long desired, was not perfectly happy.

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Between Barbicane's proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible.

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How could he dare go, naked and unkempt, to that fair thing who had once been his jungle-fellow and propose the thing that had been in his mind when first the realization of his love had swept over him?

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There are some things than which death is to be preferred; and there came at last to the Englishman the realization that it would be better to die swiftly than to lie in this horrible predicament until his mind broke beneath the strain and he went mad.

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Stunned, not alone by the realization of the awfulness of the fate of their rivals, but also by the terrific storm and the effect of the earthquake and the landslide, Tom and his friends remained for a moment gazing toward the mouth of the cavern, now completely out of sight, buried by a mass of broken trees, tangled bushes, rocks and earth.

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IN the stillness and the darkness, realization soon began to supplement knowledge.

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You will see that it depends for its practical realization not on one contingency, but on a series of contingencies, which must all happen exactly as we wish them to happen.

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It would have been as easy for Rose to be cheerful in the midst of mere squalor as for a flower to bloom white in a crowded tenement, but at the swift realization of the lack of tenderness for her which this indifference to her first impressions so clearly expressed, her faith in the man she had married began to wither.

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Without any clearness of concept, nevertheless Jerry had a realization that they were as painfully circumstanced as himself.

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With the realization that Dejah Thoris was no longer within the throneroom came the belated recollection of the dark face that I had glimpsed peering from behind the draperies that backed the throne of Salensus Oll at the moment that I had first come so unexpectedly upon the strange scene being enacted within the chamber.

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Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the realization broke upon us that death was very near.

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Then it was that I came to myself and to a realization of my duty.

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