realm

nouncommon in dialogue

United Kingdom//ɹɛlm//
//rɛːm//
//rɛlm//

A sphere of knowledge or of influence; a domain.

noun

1
archaicA territory or state, as ruled by an absolute authority, especially by a king; a kingdom.
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, […]
2
archaicA territory or state, as ruled by an absolute authority, especially by a king; a kingdom. An otherworldly dimension or domain — magical, ethereal, or otherwise.
3
archaicA territory or state, as ruled by an absolute authority, especially by a king; a kingdom. The spiritual state of which God is the head; the Kingdom of Heaven.
4
figurativeA sphere of knowledge or of influence; a domain.
the realm of physics
the realm of corporate governance
Why should we despise anything in the realm of Buddha?
One thing more which the scientific man does is to accord primacy to that realm of truth which is primary in importance.
5
A primary zoogeographical division of the earth's surface.
6
A taxonomic rank in the phylogeny of viruses, higher than kingdoms.
7
archaicA region or zone forming part of a cosmological system.
8
A grouping of equally trusted computers managed together on a network.

Etymology

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.

Forms

plural: realms

realization · The act of realizing, as: An act of figuring out or becoming…realize · To become aware of, understand, or appreciate (a fact or…really · In a way or manner that is real, not unreal.

realm · A sphere of knowledge or of influence; a domain.

realtor · A person or business that sells or leases out real estate,…reap · To cut (for example a grain) with a sickle, scythe, or…reaper · One who reaps; a person employed to harvest crops from the…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.