realise

See also: réalise and réalisé

English

Verb

realise (third-person singular simple present realises, present participle realising, simple past and past participle realised)

1. Non-Oxford British standard spelling of realize.
   • 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:

     [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.

   • 1750 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. [60]. Saturday, 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:

     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; […]

   • [1849], “‘Woman, Why Weepest Thou?’”, in Memorials of Bertie’s Brother and Infant Sister. […], London: Ward and Co., […], →OCLC, page 79:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     Utterly helpleſs, thou wert ſinking for ever, and realiſedſt not the fearfulneſs of thy poſition, for thus wert thou born and nurtured.

   • 1915, Louis Joseph Vance, “Burglary”, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 35:

     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.

     The 1st edition, published in Munsey’s Magazine, (November 1914) uses realizing instead.

   • 1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Journey Across”, in The Lost Girl, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 325:

     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.

   • 1952 March, R. K. Kirkland, “The Railways of Uxbridge”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 147:

     […] Uxbridge thought it could safely ignore the railway […]. Like many other towns which adopted similar tactics, Uxbridge soon realised its mistake.

   • 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^[1], volume 188, number 26, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-11, page 6:

     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.

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My Weirdest and Wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68:

     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.

Conjugation

Conjugation of realise

infinitive	(to) realise
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	realise	realised
2nd-person singular	realise, realisest†	realised, realisedst†
3rd-person singular	realises, realiseth†	realised
plural	realise
subjunctive	realise	realised
imperative	realise	—
participles	realising	realised

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

• derealise
• disrealise
• hyperrealise
• outrealise
• realisable
• realisation
• realised (adjective)
• realiser
• realising (adjective, noun)
• unrealise
• unrealised (adjective)
• unrealisedness

 

Anagrams

• earlies