Realm
//rɛːm// noun
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A territory or state, as ruled by an absolute authority, especially by a king; a kingdom. archaic, rhetoric
"And, of this island realm, he and his companion were the undisputed sovereigns."
- 2 a knowledge domain that you are interested in or are communicating about wordnet
- 3 A territory or state, as ruled by an absolute authority, especially by a king; a kingdom.; An otherworldly dimension or domain — magical, ethereal, or otherwise. archaic, rhetoric
- 4 the domain ruled by a king or queen wordnet
- 5 A 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. archaic, obsolete, rhetoric
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 a domain in which something is dominant wordnet
- 7 A sphere of knowledge or of influence; a domain. also, figuratively
"the realm of physics"
- 8 A primary zoogeographical division of the earth's surface.
- 9 A taxonomic rank in the phylogeny of viruses, higher than kingdoms.
- 10 A region or zone forming part of a cosmological system. archaic
Example
More examples"What these acts said was that it was illegal to pay someone in anything other than coin of the realm."
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.
Related phrases
More for "realm"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.