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:
Is there anything more worrisome about today’s tech titans than the fact that they present as abundance-minded optimists but in actuality are gluttonous, scorched-earth pessimists?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 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
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, “The Housemaid” is about as depraved and delicious as a mainstream film can get, packed with narrative twists and guffaw-worthy choices from everyone involved.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2026
In actuality it had probably been a manual laborer, a field hand, with aspirations for something better.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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
There is only one answer to this dread, which has no foundation in what we know of actualities, and that is, to tell them the experience of certain persons which absolutely contradicts such a notion.
From Psychotherapy by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
