Dictionary Information: Definition Realize - Description Meaning Thesaurus

Realize (Re"al*ize) (?), v. t.
[imp. & p. p. Realized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Realizing (?).]
[Cf. F. réaliser.]

1. To make real; to convert from the imaginary or fictitious into the actual; to bring into concrete existence; to accomplish; as, to realize a scheme or project. "We realize what Archimedes had only in hypothesis, weighting a single grain against the globe of earth." Glanvill.
2. To cause to seem real; to impress upon the mind as actual; to feel vividly or strongly; to make one's own in apprehension or experience. "Many coincidences . . . soon begin to appear in them [Greek inscriptions] which realize ancient history to us." Jowett. "We can not realize it in thought, that the object . . . had really no being at any past moment." Sir W. Hamilton.
3. To convert into real property; to make real estate of; as, to realize his fortune.
4. To acquire as an actual possession; to obtain as the result of plans and efforts; to gain; to get; as, to realize large profits from a speculation. "Knighthood was not beyond the reach of any man who could by diligent thrift realize a good estate." Macaulay.
5. To convert into actual money; as, to realize assets.

Realize (Re"al*ize), v. t.

To convert any kind of property into money, especially property representing investments, as shares in stock companies, bonds, etc. "Wary men took the alarm, and began to realize, a word now first brought into use to express the conversion of ideal property into something real." W. Irving.