virtual-reality
Meaning
A computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.
Structure
Usage
The new video game offers an incredibly immersive virtual-reality experience.
Surgeons are now using virtual-reality simulations for complex procedure training.
The real estate agent provides virtual-reality tours of properties for remote clients.
Etymology
The term "virtual reality" is a modern compound, first used in the mid-20th century, that combines two concepts with deep philosophical and linguistic histories. "Virtual" derives from the Latin virtus, which originally denoted manly excellence or potency, a meaning that evolved through Medieval Latin to signify something possessing inherent power or effect. "Reality" stems from the Latin realis, relating to things (res), and entered English to denote objective existence. The compound's logic is elegantly paradoxical: it describes a simulated environment ("reality") that is not physically present but is made to be functionally effective and perceptually convincing ("virtual"), thus creating an immersive experience of a non-physical world.
Analysis
- virtual: From Latin virtus (excellence, potency, virtue). In this compound, it functions as an adjective meaning "being such in essence or effect, though not formally recognized as such." - reality: From Latin res (thing, matter). In this compound, it functions as a noun meaning "the state or quality of having existence or substance."