realism

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An inclination toward literal truth and pragmatism.
2. n. The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form.
3. n. Philosophy The scholastic doctrine, opposed to nominalism, that universals exist independently of their being thought.
4. n. Philosophy The modern philosophical doctrine, opposed to idealism, that physical objects exist independently of their being perceived.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The doctrine of the realist, in any of the senses of that word. See especially realist, n., 1.
2. n. In literature and art, the representation of what is real in fact; the effort to exhibit the literal reality and unvarnished truth of things; treatment of characters, objects, scenes, events, circumstances, etc., according to actual truth or appearance, or to intrinsic probability, without selection or preference over the ugly of what is beautiful or admirable: opposed to idealism and romanticism. Compare naturalism.

Wiktionary

1. n. A concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary
2. n. An artistic representation of reality as it is
3. n. sciences The viewpoint that an external reality exists independent of observation
4. n. philosophy A doctrine that universals are real—they exist and are distinct from the particulars that instantiate them

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. As opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions. According to realism the Universal exists ante rem (Plato), or in re (Aristotle).
2. n. As opposed to idealism, the doctrine that in sense perception there is an immediate cognition of the external object, and our knowledge of it is not mediate and representative.
3. n. (Art & Lit.) Fidelity to nature or to real life; representation without idealization, and making no appeal to the imagination; adherence to the actual fact.
4. n. the practise of assessing facts and the probabilities of the consequences of actions in an objective manner; avoidance of unrealistic or impractical beliefs or efforts. Contrasted to idealism, self-deception, overoptimism, overimaginativeness, or visionariness.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an artistic movement in 19th century France; artists and writers strove for detailed realistic and factual description
2. n. the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth
3. n. (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that physical objects continue to exist when not perceived
4. n. the state of being actual or real
5. n. (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names