actuality

American  

[ak-choo-al-i-tee] / ˌæk tʃuˈæl ɪ ti /

noun

plural

actualities

1. actual existence; reality.

2. an actual condition or circumstance; fact.

   Space travel is now an actuality.

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actuality British  

/ ˌæktʃʊˈælɪtɪ /

noun

1. true existence; reality

2. (sometimes plural) a fact or condition that is real

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Other Word Forms

• nonactuality
  noun

Etymology

Origin of actuality

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

Explanation

Actuality is the quality of being real or true. You might wish you could make friends with a bear, but in actuality, you should definitely not climb into the grizzly enclosure at the zoo. Use this word for anything that's objectively factual — you may be terrified of flying, but in actuality it's much safer than riding in a car. Before it meant "state of being real," the word actuality was defined as "power," from the Latin root actus, or "doing." The meaning had shifted by the 1670s, first to "existing conditions," from the French actuel, "up to date," and then to the current definition.

Example Sentences

For Actuality Productions: directed, written and produced by Greg DeHart; Jerry Shevick, executive producer.

From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2010

Actuality put the lie to most prophecies long before anybody in the U.S. had even heard of the Ayatullah Khomeini or imagined the trouble he would bring.

From Time Magazine Archive

This conception he formulated in the correlatives, Potentiality and Actuality.

From A Short History of Greek Philosophy by Marshall, John

Actuality had been dethroned by some dream wizardry and left him free of obligation to reason.

From The Law of Hemlock Mountain by Lundsford, Hugh

But by means of his elastic formula of Potentiality and Actuality he was able to make the transition to the psychological with apparent ease.

From Naturalism And Religion by Otto, Rudolf