ac·tu·al·i·ty

/ˌækʧəˈwæləti/ noun, pl -ties

1 [noncount] : the quality or state of being actual or real

It was hard to accept the actuality [=reality] of the disease.

2 [count] : something that is actual or real

the actualities [=realities] of war

The actuality was quite different from the theory.

in actuality

: in truth

— used to stress that something is true when it is different from what was believed or expected

He gave me what turned out to be, in actuality [=in reality, in fact], only a copy of the original.

I thought they just arrived, but in actuality they'd been here for an hour.