reality check

1. 1.

   an occasion on which one is reminded of the nature of things in the real world

   “this program is intended as a reality check for CEOs”

   “after all those elaborate productions, I felt in need of a reality check”

   Broaderjuncture

Questions about reality check

What does reality check mean?

reality check means "an occasion on which one is reminded of the nature of things in the real world".

Is reality check a common word?

reality check is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.