Virtuality

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of existing in a simulated or digital environment instead of a tangible or physical one
2. A condition where experiences are manifested through digital representations rather than through physical existence
3. The quality of being simulated or represented digitally rather than existing in the physical realm

Etymology: "Virtuality" is about as plain as English etymology gets: it is simply "virtual" with the abstract-noun suffix "-ity" attached. The suffix comes from Latin "-itas", which English took through Old French "-ité" and which turns an adjective into the name of the quality it describes. So "virtuality" names the state of being virtual. The adjective it rests on carries the more interesting history. "Virtual" comes from medieval Latin "virtualis", built on the Latin "virtus", a word meaning strength, power or excellence (and, from the same root, "virtue"). In its earliest English sense, something virtual was effective or potential rather than actual, a meaning that survives in phrases such as "virtually impossible." The idea of something that exists in effect without existing in fact is therefore older than any computer, and the digital sense grew out of that older meaning.

Synonyms: simulated reality, cyberspace, digital presence, virtual existence, artificial reality