lexicow

realm

/relm//relm/·noun
I watch a single line get drawn all the way around a little hill and its keep, sealing it off — this far and no further. Then a banner unrolls from the tower, and the small figures inside wake up and go about their business, all of them suddenly belonging to that one flag. Draw the border, raise the colours, and a patch of ground becomes somewhere: a whole small world with an inside and an outside.
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Definition

A realm is a kingdom — the whole territory under one ruler — and from that royal beginning it has stretched to mean any bounded domain: the realm of physics, the realm of dreams, the realm of possibility. The word still keeps its borders; whatever lies inside a realm answers to its own rules and its own authority, and a clear boundary separates it from what lies beyond. It is a touch grand and literary, which is why figurative realms always sound a little like small kingdoms.

Examples

  • In the realm of medieval politics, loyalty often mattered more than law.
  • Some questions transcend the realm of pure science and spill over into philosophy.
  • Quantum effects belong to the realm of the very small, where everyday intuition simply fails.

Collocations

the realm of possibility·in the realm of·beyond the realm of·a realm of ideas·the public realm

Synonyms

kingdom·domain·sphere·province·territory

In TOEFL & IELTS

The figurative frame 'in the realm of…' is a graceful way to name a field in Writing ('in the realm of public health'), and 'within the realm of possibility' is a ready-made hedge. The literal kingdom sense turns up in history and literature reading. One syllable, silent middle — it rhymes with 'helm', not 'realum'.