virtual reality

English

Etymology

Calque of French réalité virtuelle. virtual +‎ reality

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː(ɹ)tʃuəl ɹiːˈælɪti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

virtual reality (countable and uncountable, plural virtual realities)

2. (computing) A computer technology that simulates a real or imagined environment so that the user can interact with it as if physically present.

   Alternative form: VR (initialism)

   Coordinate terms: AR, augmented reality, MR, mixed reality, hybrid reality, extended reality, spatial computing, metaverse, CPS, cyber-physical system; RR, real reality, IRL

3. (by extension, dated) A text adventure or multi-user dungeon.
   • 1990 December, Richard Bartle, Interactive Multi-User Computer Games‎^[1]:

     When a player like Shotton's interviewee controls a persona in a MUA and becomes absorbed to such an extent that he is oblivious to the real world, concentrating only on the virtual reality, then the player and his persona fuse; he 'becomes' his persona in that MUA. As far as the player is concerned, things are happening not to the persona but to he himself. He can do things that are impossible in the real world, and be whoever he wants to be. That's the attraction.

   • 1993 April 7, Blackbriar, “Re: Invisibility, "MOOrape"”, in parcftp.xerox.com/pub/MOO/contrib/mail mailing list‎^[2]:

     In the virtual reality, text is all there is. If you see `Blackbriar chuckles.' then that is the closest you're going to get to a real chuckle in this environment.

4. (obsolete) Something conjectured which is effectively coming into existence.

Synonyms

• virch (colloquial)
• VR (abbreviation)

Derived terms

• full-dive virtual reality

Related terms

• augmented reality (AR)
• real reality (RR)

Translations

virtual reality

• Afrikaans: skynwerklikheid
• Arabic: وَاقِع اِفْتِرَاضِيّ m (wāqiʕ iftirāḍiyy), حَقِيقَة ظَاهِرِيَّة f (ḥaqīqa(t) ẓāhiriyya)
• Armenian: վիրտուալ իրականություն (virtual irakanutʻyun)
• Asturian: realidá virtual f
• Azerbaijani: virtual reallıq
• Basque: errealitate birtual
• Belarusian: віртуальная рэальнасць f (virtualʹnaja realʹnascʹ)
• Bengali: অপ্রকৃত বাস্তবতা (oprokrito bastobota)
• Bulgarian: виртуална реалност f (virtualna realnost)
• Burmese: အသွင်ယောင် ပကတိ (a.swang-yaung pa.ka.ti.)
• Catalan: realitat virtual
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 虛擬實境 / 虚拟实境 (heoi¹ ji⁵ sat⁶ ging²,heoi¹ ji⁴ sat⁶ ging²), 虛擬現實 / 虚拟现实 (heoi¹ ji⁵ jin⁶ sat⁶,heoi¹ ji⁴ jin⁶ sat⁶)(mainland China)

  Mandarin: 虛擬實境 / 虚拟实境 (xūnǐ shíjìng), 虛擬現實 / 虚拟现实 (zh) (xūnǐ xiànshí)(mainland China)

• Corsican: realità virtuale f, rialità virtuale f
• Czech: virtuální realita f
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: virtual reality (nl), virtuele werkelijkheid
• Esperanto: virtuala realo, virtuala realeco
• Estonian: virtuaalreaalsus
• Finnish: virtuaalitodellisuus (fi)
• French: réalité virtuelle (fr) f
• Galician: realidade virtual f
• Georgian: ვირტუალური რეალობა (virṭualuri realoba)
• German: virtuelle Realität (de) f
• Greek: εικονική πραγματικότητα (el) f (eikonikí pragmatikótita)
• Hebrew: מציאות מדומה (he)
• Hindi: आभासी यथार्थ m (ābhāsī yathārth), आभासी वास्तविकता f (ābhāsī vāstaviktā)
• Hungarian: virtuális valóság (hu)
• Icelandic: sýndarveruleiki m
• Indonesian: realitas virtual, realitas maya
• Irish: réaltacht fhíorúil f
• Italian: realtà virtuale (it) f
• Japanese: 仮想現実 (ja) (かそうげんじつ, kasō genjitsu), バーチャルリアリティ (bācharu riaritī), 人工現実感 (じんこうげんじつかん, jinkō genjitsukan)
• Kannada: ವರ್ಚುಯಲ್ ರಿಯಾಲಿಟಿ (varcuyal riyāliṭi)
• Kazakh: виртуалды шындық (vıyrtuwaldı šındıq)
• Korean: 가상현실(假想現實) (gasanghyeonsil)
• Kyrgyz: виртуалдуу аныктык (virtualduu anıktık)
• Latin: realitas virtualis
• Latvian: virtuālā realitāte
• Lithuanian: virtuali realybė
• Macedonian: виртуелна реалност f (virtuelna realnost)
• Malay: realiti maya, رياليتي ماي (rialiti maya), kenyataan maya
• Malayalam: വെർച്വൽ റിയാലിറ്റി (veṟcval ṟiyāliṟṟi)
• Mongolian: виртуал бодит байдал (virtual bodit baidal)
• Norwegian: kunstig virkelighet
• Persian: واقعیت مجازی (fa)
• Polish: rzeczywistość wirtualna f
• Portuguese: realidade virtual
• Punjabi: ਆਭਾਸੀ ਅਸਲੀਅਤ (ābhāsī asalīata)
• Romanian: realitate virtuală f
• Russian: виртуа́льная реа́льность (ru) f (virtuálʹnaja reálʹnostʹ)
• Slovak: virtuálna realita f
• Slovene: navidezna resničnost f
• Spanish: realidad virtual f
• Swedish: virtuell verklighet c
• Tamil: தோற்ற மெய்ம்மை (tōṟṟa meymmai)
• Thai: ความเป็นจริงเสมือน
• Turkish: sanal gerçeklik (tr)
• Ukrainian: віртуа́льна реа́льність f (virtuálʹna reálʹnistʹ)
• Urdu: بصری حقیقت
• Vietnamese: thực tế ảo
• Zhuang: cang yiengh yienhsaed

See also

• extended reality
• metaverse
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