3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many, many thanks to you all for your excellent contributions. If you would like to know more about the background to the question, let me tell you that I'm revising the Italian version of a "purpose statement" (sic) originally written in US English. The verb "realize" is part of the statement, and the authors give a list of situations which are intended to illustrate the various meanings of "realize". I agree with all of you - it is used inappropriately. I doubt if the authors of the original text will care very much for our opinions however, so the translators of the Italian version will simply have to stick with it, and I don't think it works very well in Italian, either. Again, many thanks to everyone who took the time to answer. I'm in the usual difficult situation of who to award points to, so I will award them to Chris, as he seems to have been the first off the block."