realm
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- realme (obsolete)
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English rewme, realme, reaume, from Old French reaume, realme, reialme (“kingdom”), of unclear origins. A postulated *rēgālimen (“domain, kingdom”), Late Latin or Vulgar Latin cross of regimen with rēgālis is usually cited.
The modern spelling predominates from around 1600. The modern pronunciation with /l/ is either a spelling pronunciation or influenced by the etymology. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK, US) enPR: rĕlm, IPA(key): /ɹɛlm/
- (Early Modern) IPA(key): /rɛːm/, /rɛlm/[1]
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛlm
Noun
[edit]realm (plural realms)
- (now law and rhetoric) A territory or state, as ruled by an absolute authority, especially by a king; a kingdom. [from ca. 1300]
- 1874, Horatio Alger, “Chapter XXXI”, in Brave and Bold:
- And, of this island realm, he and his companion were the undisputed sovereigns.
- 1913, Leslie Alexander Toke, Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Dunstan",
- Then seeing his life was threatened he fled the realm and crossed over to Flanders, […]
- (fantasy, roleplaying games) An otherworldly dimension or domain — magical, ethereal, or otherwise — usually ruled or created by a mystical character.
- (obsolete) The spiritual state of which God is the head; the Kingdom of Heaven.
- (also figurative) A sphere of knowledge or of influence; a domain. [from after 1400]
- the realm of physics
- the realm of corporate governance
- 1907, Tada Kanai, “The World and How to Pass Through It”, in Arthur Lloyd, transl., Seven Buddhist Sermons:
- Why should we despise anything in the realm of Buddha?
- 1922, Judson Eber Conant, “Truth Must be Classified Scientifically”, in The Church The Schools and Evolution:
- One thing more which the scientific man does is to accord primacy to that realm of truth which is primary in importance.
- 2006 November 22, Christian Neef, “Diary of a Collapsing Superpower”, in Spiegel Magazine:
- At home in Moscow, Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev, who had launched a campaign to rejuvenate the Soviet realm […]
- 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly[2], volume 188, number 23, page 19:
- In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
- (biology, ecology) A primary zoogeographical division of the earth's surface. [from 1850s]
- (virology, taxonomy) A taxonomic rank in the phylogeny of viruses, higher than kingdoms.
- (archaic) A region or zone forming part of a cosmological system. [from 1560s]
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- abjuration of the realm
- abjure the realm
- abstract realm
- coin of the realm
- Commonwealth realm
- custom of the realm
- Eastern Realm
- experience realm
- floristic realm
- hell realm
- Ice Realm
- Indomalayan realm
- interrealm
- in the realm of shades
- Northern Realm
- Oriental realm
- peer of the realm
- realmless
- realmlessness
- realmlet
- realm of fantasy
- realm of possibility
- realm of the dead
- Schengen realm
- shadow realm
- Snow Realm
- Southern Realm
- unrealmed
- Western Realm
Translations
[edit]sphere of influence
|
domain of an abstraction
|
territory or state
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
References
[edit]- ^ Dobson, E. J. (1957) English pronunciation 1500-1700[1], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 8, page 475.
- “realm, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “realm”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “realm”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.; “domain”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃reǵ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛlm
- Rhymes:English/ɛlm/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
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