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realm

 
Dictionary: realm   (rĕlm) pronunciation
n.
  1. A community or territory over which a sovereign rules; a kingdom.
  2. A field, sphere, or province: the realm of science. See synonyms at field.

[Middle English realme, from Old French, alteration (influenced by Old French reial, royal) of Latin regimen, government, from regere, to rule.]


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Thesaurus: realm
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noun

  1. An area within which something or someone exists, acts, or has influence or power: ambit, compass, extension, extent, orbit, purview, range, reach, scope, sphere, sweep, swing. See territory.
  2. A sphere of activity, experience, study, or interest: area, arena, bailiwick, circle, department, domain, field, orbit, province, scene, subject, terrain, territory, world. Slang bag. See territory.

WordNet: realm
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 3 meanings:

Meaning #1: a domain in which something is dominant
  Synonyms: kingdom, land

Meaning #2: a knowledge domain that you are interested in or are communicating about
  Synonyms: domain, region

Meaning #3: the domain ruled by a king or queen
  Synonym: kingdom


Wikipedia: Realm
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A realm (pronounced /rɛlm/) is a dominion of a monarch or other sovereign ruler.

The Old French word reaume, modern French royaume, was the word first adopted in English; the fixed modern spelling does not appear until the beginning of the 17th century. The word supposedly derives from medieval Latin regalimen, from regalis, of or belonging to a rex, (king).[1]

"Realm" is particularly used for those states whose name includes the word kingdom (for example, the United Kingdom), to avoid clumsy repetition of the word in a sentence (for example, "The Queen's realm, the United Kingdom..."). It is also useful to describe those countries whose monarchs are called something other than "king" or "queen"; for example, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a realm but not a kingdom since its monarch holds the title Grand Duke rather than King.

"Realm" is also frequently used to refer to territories that are "under" a monarch, yet are not a physical part of his or her "kingdom" (e.g- the Realm of Sweden, or to Holstein, which until the Second War of Schleswig was an important part of the Danish King's realm stretching to the border of Hamburg, although not a part of the Danish Kingdom). Similarly, the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau are considered parts of the Realm of New Zealand, although they are not part of New Zealand proper. Likewise, the Faroe Islands and Greenland remain parts of the Danish Realm.

Realm may commonly also be used to describe the Commonwealth realms which all are kingdoms in their own right and share a common monarch, though they are fully independent of each other.

Realm directly translates into reich in German, though the word reich is often used as a short form for 'kingdom' (Königreich) and especially 'empire' (Kaiserreich). The German suffix -reich is only used for realms headed by a crowned monarch (or if they used to be, e.g. Frankreich for France). Territories ruled by non-crowned rulers end in the suffix -tum (engl.: -dom), i.e. Herzogtum (dukedom), Fürstentum (principality).

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the article "REALM" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. RFC2617

Footnotes

  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Realm"

Translations: Realm
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - kongerige, rige, verden

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    mulighedernes grænse

Nederlands (Dutch)
rijk

Français (French)
n. - royaume, (fig) domaine

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    domaine du possible

Deutsch (German)
n. - Reich

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    Bereich des Möglichen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - βασίλειο, σφαίρα επιρροής, τομέας, δικαιοδοσία, σφαίρα ενδιαφέροντος ή δικαιοδοσίας

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    χώρος του εφικτού

Italiano (Italian)
regno, ambito

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    ambito delle possibilitý

Português (Portuguese)
n. - reino (m), domínio (m)

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    na medida do possível

Русский (Russian)
королевство, царство

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    пределы возможного

Español (Spanish)
n. - reino, esfera, terreno

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    dentro de lo posible

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - konungarike, (abstr) värld

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
王国, 界, 领域, 国土, 领土, 范围

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    可能性的范围

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 王國, 界, 領域, 國土, 領土, 範圍

idioms:

  • realms of possibility    可能性的範圍

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 왕국, 국토, 영역

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 領域, 範囲, 分野, 王国, 国土

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مملكه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תחום, עולם, ממלכה‬


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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Realm" Read more
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