Crossword Dictionary
REALISTIC
realistic - a
aware or expressing awareness of things as they really are; "a realistic description"; "a realistic view of the possibilities"; "a realistic appraisal of our chances"; "the actors tried to create a realistic portrayal of the Africans"
of or relating to the philosophical doctrine of realism; "a realistic system of thought"
Synonyms
down-to-earth, earthy, hardheaded, matter-of-fact, practical, pragmatic (also pragmatical)
Examples
You're supposed to be taking care of me, but that isn't realistic 100% of the time, is it?
She may have been more realistic about Annie's life, but she is very protective of sister Claire.
Munich is still the leading school of painting in Germany, but the romanticism of the earlier masters has been abandoned for drawing and colouring of a realistic character.
Etymology
1829, of art, literature, etc., "true to reality, exhibiting realism in description or representation;" 1831 as "involving a practical view of life" (opposed to idealistic); see realist + -ic. Related: Realistically.
realist (n.)
17c., in philosophy, in senses clustered around the notion of "one who believes in the real existence of the external world, independent of all thought about it," from real (adj.) + -ist, and compare French réaliste. Also see realism. Meaning "artist or writer working by the principles of artistic realism" is by 1870.
-ic
Middle English -ik, -ick, word-forming element making adjectives, "having to do with, having the nature of, being, made of, caused by, similar to," from French -ique and directly from Latin -icus or from cognate Greek -ikos "in the manner of; pertaining to." From PIE adjective suffix *-(i)ko, which also yielded Slavic -isku, adjectival suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (Russian -skii) in many surnames. In chemistry, indicating a higher valence than names in -ous (first in benzoic, 1791).