realist

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noun

re·​al·​ist ˈrē-ə-list 

plural realists

1

: a person who recognizes what is real or possible in a particular situation : one who accepts and deals with things as they really are

a political realist

She considers herself a realist when it comes to parenting.

2

: a person (such as a writer or painter) who adheres to a style of realism by representing things in a way faithful to nature or to real life

Chekhov was essentially more of a realist than Dostoevski, whose force often lay in a strong proclivity to melodrama …

—Roger Shattuck

realist

2 of 2

adjective

: in the style of realism : faithful in representation to nature or to real life

realist paintings

Though a number of Dahl's most engaging stories, particularly in his early career, are cast in a realist mode, his reputation is that of a writer of macabre, blackly jocose tales …

—Joyce Carol Oates

Examples of realist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Trump's return was met with cautious optimism across much of the Arabian Peninsula, where his realist, transactional style of diplomacy has earned him respect. —Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025

For over a century, every global crisis has sparked a debate in the United States between two classical schools of geopolitical thought, pitting idealists, ardent supporters of foreign intervention, against realists, who mistrust lofty crusades. —Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2025

Adjective

The dialogue is both realist, full of the ejaculations and repetitions that characterize human speech, and poetic, with only the occasional anapest interrupting the poem’s iambic pentameter. —Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025

What is needed now is a new internationalism: a realist internationalism. —Anatol Lieven, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1817, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1853, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing realist

• photo-realist