actuality

[ ak-choo-al-i-tee ]

/ ˌæk tʃuˈæl ɪ ti /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR actuality ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ac·tu·al·i·ties.

actual existence; reality.

an actual condition or circumstance; fact: Space travel is now an actuality.

Nearby words

actual bodily harm, actual cautery, actual cost, actual sin, actualism, actuality, actualité, actualization, actualize, actually, actuals

Origin of actuality

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

Related forms

non·ac·tu·al·i·ty, noun, plural non·ac·tu·al·i·ties.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for actuality

In actuality, there were less than 300 U.S. soldiers in the valley at any given time.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley|Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman|November 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In actuality, an encounter with a goddess of the underworld is another step in the second cycle of the monomyth.
The Walking Dead’s Luke Skywalker: Rick Grimes Is the Perfect Modern-Day Mythical Hero|Regina Lizik|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But in actuality, the novel contains ample material that points to a real and specific time and place.
This Week’s Hot Reads: April 14, 2014|Charles Shafaieh|April 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To BE is to exist, to have actuality; a BI is a guy or girl with bisexuality.
National Scrabble Day: A Poem So You’ll Know All 101 Two-Letter Words|David Bukszpan|April 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST

There is a need to humanize plans that work on paper, in the abstract, but lack touchy-feely elements in actuality.
What the Stars Hold for Your Week|Starsky + Cox|July 30, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The actuality of the sealing ordinance in marriage finds an illustration in the personal teachings of the Savior.
The House of the Lord|James E. Talmage
He went about absorbed in the interest and the actuality of this dream.
The Rainbow|D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
It was so unreal, so dreamlike, that for many days I had trouble convincing myself of its actuality.
Greener Than You Think|Ward Moore
My people, who know nothing as a rule, of course—but they tell me the woman is in actuality the daughter of a queen.
The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story|Various
All objects of thought exist, either purely in potentiality, or purely in actuality, or both in potentiality and in actuality.
Christianity and Greek Philosophy|Benjamin Franklin Cocker

British Dictionary definitions for actuality

actuality

/ (ˌæktʃʊˈælɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

true existence; reality

(sometimes plural) a fact or condition that is real

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012