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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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:
In actuality, data exists on computer servers, its components “as tangible as gold bullion.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
To learn and carry that over from the previous practice into the film room and actuality execute it out here was great to see.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
The five years, in actuality, starts from the point at which United get the green light to put spades in the ground.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 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
A tadpole is potentially a frog, and as it grows it develops from potentiality to actuality.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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
With those in our pockets, we can seize the possibilities and begin to make hopes into actualities.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 13, 2017
She despises nearly all public art, for its obliviousness of the actualities of public life.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 15, 2014
We were instant friends, who communicated not on the actualities of our lives, but through story.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2014
His mind fastened on the hard actualities of observation, without passing to what they implied or suggested.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 120, October, 1867. by Various
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
