Reality

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For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation).

Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist."^[1] Literally, the term denotes what is real; in its widest sense, this includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense includes being and sometimes is considered to include nothingness, as well. By contrast, the term existence is often restricted solely to being (compare with nature).

Hand-coloured version of the anonymous wood engraving known as the Flammarion woodcut (1888).

The term reality first appeared in the English language in 1550, originally a legal term in the sense of "fixedproperty."^[2] It originated from the Modern Latin term realitatem, which was from Late Latin realis; the meaning of "real existence" is from 1647 onwards.^[2]