actuality

[ ak-choo-al-i-tee ]

noun

, plural ac·tu·al·i·ties.

1. actual existence; reality.
2. an actual condition or circumstance; fact:

   Space travel is now an actuality.

actuality

/ ˌæktʃʊˈælɪtɪ /

noun

1. true existence; reality
2. sometimes plural a fact or condition that is real

Other Words From

• nonac·tu·ali·ty noun plural nonactualities

Word History and Origins

Origin of actuality¹

1350–1400; Middle English actualite < Medieval Latin āctuālitās. See actual, -ity

Example Sentences

In actuality, there were less than 300 U.S. soldiers in the valley at any given time.

From The Daily Beast

In actuality, an encounter with a goddess of the underworld is another step in the second cycle of the monomyth.

From The Daily Beast

But in actuality, the novel contains ample material that points to a real and specific time and place.

From The Daily Beast

To BE is to exist, to have actuality; a BI is a guy or girl with bisexuality.

From The Daily Beast

There is a need to humanize plans that work on paper, in the abstract, but lack touchy-feely elements in actuality.

From The Daily Beast

Find this first, and represent it as soon as you have got the main values, in this way the whole thing will tell as an actuality.

From Project Gutenberg

The first regiments were only boys, still unmarried, living in romance rather than actuality.

From Project Gutenberg

The time of hard grappling with the overwhelming fulness of actuality is over.

From Project Gutenberg

Perforce, because he was born in our horde he stayed with us; but in actuality he was an atavism and his place was elsewhere.

From Project Gutenberg

The "Blind Lead" episode, as related, is presumably a tale of what might have happened—a possibility rather than an actuality.

From Project Gutenberg