actuality

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English actualite,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin āctuālitās (“capacity for action; state of being real”),^{[4][5][6][2][3]} from Late Latin āctuālis (“pertaining to action; active, practical”), the source of actual,^[5][6][7] and the suffix -tās;^[4] the Late Latin adjective is from Latin āctus (“a doing”),^[5][7] from Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive, draw out or forth, move”).^[5] The Shorter Oxford and the ODE also allow Old French actualite as a source.^[8][7] The Medieval Latin word is found in British sources from the 13th century, both for capacity for action and for the state of being real.^[4] Klein and Etymonline take it as a loan translation of Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia, “activity, operation”), the source of energy.^[6][5] The OED compares French actualité, Italian attualità (1308), Catalan actualitat, Spanish actualidad and Portuguese atualidade.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Capacity for action, effective power, activity: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[4][2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, with the sense "power, efficacy".^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, capacity for action, was obsolete by the end of the 18th century (last recorded 1788).^[4][8] From 1587 an actuality was an actual thing or fact, an existing condition, often in the plural;^[4][2] Etymonline dates actualities, existing conditions, to the 1660s.^[5] The abstract sense, the state of being actual or real, followed in 1675, and the phrase in actuality, in reality, in 1677.^[4][5] Johnson (1755) defined the word simply as "the state of being actual".^[9] From 1812, in Crabbe, it also meant realism in description.^[4] Weekley, quoted by Etymonline, put the modern use for realism and contact with the present down to French actualité, from actuel, which means "current, up to date" rather than "real".^[5] The OED likewise traces the sense of a documentary presentation of real events on film, radio or television (1925) to French actualité, real events or news, a name also given to early films on current events, such as those of the Lumière brothers.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1398 – capacity for action, activity (obsolete by 1788).^[4]
• 1587 – an actual thing or fact; an existing condition, often in the plural.^[4][2]
• 1675 – the state of being actual or real; reality.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1670s.^[5]
• 1677 – in actuality, in reality.^[4]
• 1812 – realism in description or representation.^[4]
• 1925 – the presentation of real events in a film or broadcast; documentary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being actual; reality or real existence: The plan looked simple on paper but proved hard in actuality.^[10][2][4]
2. Something that is actual; a fact or existing condition, often in the plural: the grim actualities of life at the front.^[10][2][4]
3. in actuality: in fact, in reality.^[2][4]
4. Realism in description or representation.^[4][8]
5. The presentation of real events in a film, radio or television programme; documentary material.^[4]
6. (obsolete, 1398–1788) Capacity for action; effective power or activity.^[4][8]

Word family

• nonactuality

Related words

• actual
• act
• energy
• actualize

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins