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
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, the song draws from “a three- or four-day period of my life that I blew up into this big thing,” Rapp said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
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
It gave the older ones the sense that they were in charge, when in actuality it was Mommy who ruled the world.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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
To reply that much greater good would accompany other conditions is irrelevant; for we are not now comparing actualities with ideals, but one class of people with another under existing circumstances.
From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams
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.
