noun
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true existence; reality
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(sometimes plural) a fact or condition that is real
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing actuality
Novel Study: American Born Chinese, Pages 85–233
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Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I’m really happy that it looks like, ‘Oh, they must have spent so much time,’ when in actuality we just had such a great chemistry immediately.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The arrangement of dreams and actuality is frustratingly haphazard, more like a pretext to widen the novel’s scope.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
In actuality, the PSG players are going through the instructions in their head as they decide where to move.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
In actuality, they’ll be weakening one of the great checks against the actual threat—emboldening the real danger that is sitting, and amassing further power, within.
From Slate ● May 15, 2025
‘And it feels like a suitcase. So if you believe in the actuality of suitcases I reckon this is one, all right.’
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
His contribution, titled “The Nobel Returns Home,” celebrates how “the Arts — and literature in particular — are well and thriving” in Africa, “a sturdy flag waved above depressing actualities by a young, confident generation.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2021
Meanwhile, its actualities are largely cloaked from scrutiny until they shimmer into a very pricey item loved by both parties.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2021
The appearance of unity is easier than the messy actualities.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2019
Bruner-Yang might not be famous for forecasts, but he’s an ace with actualities.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 21, 2015
Her gray eyes sparkled less often, but they glowed with a steadier light for perhaps this reason; they looked as if more of life's earnest actualities had been reflected in them.
From The Adventures of a Widow A Novel by Edgar Fawcett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
