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Webster 1913 Edition

Actual

Ac′tu-al

(#; 135)
,
Adj.
[OE.
actuel
, F.
actuel
, L.
actualis
, fr.
agere
to do, act.]
1.
Involving or comprising action; active.
[Obs.]
Her walking and other
actual
performances.
Shakespeare
Let your holy and pious intention be
actual
; that is . . . by a special prayer or action, . . . given to God.
Jer. Taylor.
2.
Existing in act or reality; really acted or acting; in fact; real; – opposed to
potential
,
possible
,
virtual
,
speculative
,
conceivable
,
theoretical
, or
nominal
;
as, the
actual
cost of goods; the
actual
case under discussion.
3.
In action at the time being; now exiting; present; as the actual situation of the country.
Actual cautery
.
See under
Cautery
.
–
Actual sin
(Theol.)
,
that kind of sin which is done by ourselves in contradistinction to “original sin.”
Syn. – Real; genuine; positive; certain. See
Real
.

Ac′tu-al

,
Noun.
(Finance)
Something actually received; real, as distinct from estimated, receipts.
[Cant]
The accounts of revenues supplied . . . were not real receipts: not, in financial language, “
actuals
,” but only Egyptian budget estimates.
Fortnightly Review.

Webster 1828 Edition

Actual

ACT'UAL

, a.
1.
Real or effective, or that exists truly and absolutely; as, actual heat, opposed to that, which is virtual or potential; actual cautery, or the burning by a red-hot iron, opposed to a cautery or caustic application, that may produce the same effect upon the body by a different process.
2.
Existing in act; real; in opposition to speculative, or existing in theory only; as an actual crime.
3.
In theology, actual sin is that which is committed by a person himself, opposed to original sin, or the corruption of nature supposed to be communicated from Adam.
4.
That includes action.
Besides her walking and other actual performances. [Hardly legitimate.]

Definition 2024

actual

actual

English

Adjective

actual ‎(not comparable)

  1. Existing in act or reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact.
    the actual cost of goods;  the actual case under discussion‎
  2. Factual, real, not just apparent or even false.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:
      The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
    The actual government expenses dramatically exceed the budget.‎
  3. (dated) In action at the time being; now existing; current.
    The actual situation of the world economy is worse than anyone expected a year ago‎
  4. (obsolete) Active, not passive.
    • Shakespeare
      her walking and other actual performances.
    • Jeremy Taylor
      Let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is […] by a special prayer or action, […] given to God.
  5. Used to emphasise a noun or verb, whether something is real or metaphorical.
    • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.

Usage notes

  • In some foreign languages the counterpart of actual means “current”. This meaning also occurs in English written by non-native speakers, but is nonstandard English.
  • The phrase in actual fact is criticised by many as redundant.[1]

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

actual ‎(plural actuals)

  1. An actual, real one; notably:
    1. (finance) Something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.
    2. (military) A radio callsign modifier that specifies the commanding officer of the unit or asset denoted by the remainder of the callsign and not the officer's assistant or other designee.
      Bravo Six Actual, this is Charlie One. Come in, over. (The radio operator is requesting to speak to the commander of the unit under the call sign "Bravo Six.")

See also

References

  1. ↑ “She Literally Exploded : The Daily Telegraph Infuriating Phrasebook”, Christopher Howse and Richard Preston (Constable‧London, 2007; ISBN 978‒1‒84529‒675‒9), page 3

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin actualis.

Adjective

actual m, f ‎(masculine and feminine plural actuals)

  1. present, current
  2. factual

Related terms

Galician

Etymology

From Latin actualis.

Adverb

actual m, f (plural actuais)

  1. current, present
  2. factual, real, actual

Derived terms

Interlingua

Adjective

actual

  1. present, current
  2. factual
  3. (philosophy) actual, real

Related terms

Portuguese

Adjective

actual m, f ‎(plural actuais, comparable)

  1. Superseded spelling of atual.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin actualis.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -al

Adjective

actual m, f ‎(plural actuales)

  1. present, current
  2. factual
  3. (philosophy) actual, real

Usage notes

  • Actual is a false friend, and does not mean the same as the English word actual. Spanish equivalents are shown above, in the "Translations" section of the English entry actual.

Related terms

See also

  • Appendix:Spanish false cognates with English

Etymology

Middle English actual, actuel ‎(“active”), from Old French actuel, actual, from Late Latin actualis ‎(“active, practical”), from Latin actus ‎(“act, action, performance”), from agere ‎(“to do; to act”) + -alis ‎(“-al”).

Pronunciation

Similar Results