realistic

Everyday

1. Sensible about what can really happen or be done: "a realistic plan". tree →
2. Looking or seeming very like the real thing: "a realistic painting of a horse." tree →
3. Realistic can also describe a view that takes things as they actually are, without imagining or magic. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life a realistic goal is one you can actually reach. In art lessons a realistic drawing looks like real life. In maths, a "realistic answer" makes sense: a person cannot be 5 metres tall. In stories, realistic fiction tells about things that could happen. Phrases: be realistic, realistic goal, realistic fiction, look realistic.

Examples

• Be realistic: we cannot paint the whole house today. tree →
• The toy dinosaur looks very realistic. tree →
• Set yourself a realistic goal for reading each week. tree →
• Check whether your answer is realistic. tree →
• Realistic fiction is about things that could really happen. tree →
• Her drawing of the cat is so realistic. tree →
• It is not realistic to walk to London from here. tree →
• Even such a minute touch as the terraces on the hill have their bearing, I believe, on Mr. MacRitchie's “realistic” views of Faerie. tree →

Note

Opposite: "unrealistic". The noun is "realism"; the adverb is "realistically". In maths and science, check your answer is realistic: if a pencil comes out 3 kilometres long, you made a mistake. A realistic picture can still be fake, so do not believe every realistic photo online.