reality television
- noun
- /riˈælɪti ˌtɛlɪˈvɪʒən/
- In addition to having pioneering instincts and a native sense of mischief, my wife is a big fan of reality television shows.
- reality television show
I learnt pole dance, I watched a lot of reality television, I did yoga.
- I learnt pole dance, I watched a lot of reality television, I did yoga.
- We'll watch documentary, we'll watch reality television.
- It's like I've become arguably like the guy to talk about story and structure in reality television.
- But other than that, all good reality television is made from the fact that the people in it don't get the fucking cuts.
- It would be tend to be less narcissistic than a reality television star.
- People don't get that there's a lot of really great stuff and I don't think that they use that label reality television for it.
Examples
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Today, reality television shows frequently portray the waxing and waning of love.
Academic text (2013) -
2004 was kind of the height of reality television.
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I did not know all the hours I spent watching reality television would be useful one day!
Academic text (2010) -
Um, we focus mainly on reality television shows.
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So, who knew reality television could be so helpful?
Academic text (2010) -
Even TV Land has reality television shows on its slate these days.
Blog text (21) -
One anthropologist argues that reality television is actually making us smarter.
Blog text (21) -
But, as so many reality television couples do, Pavelka and Girardi broke up later that year.
Blog text (27) -
Many people enjoy watching reality television because it shows real-life situations and experiences.
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On a weekend, she loves to binge-watch her favorite reality television shows with friends.
Antonyms
How Real
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a type of television programming about real people and situations' is directly and compositionally derived from 'reality' (what is real) modifying 'television' (the broadcast medium), so knowing both words lets a learner infer the genre. This noun+noun/modifier pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English compounding, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Reality television comes from the simple idea of putting ordinary people, not actors, on TV and filming their real, not written moments. The word reality points to 'real life' and television is the screen that shows it, so the name now means shows that try to present 'real' people and events.