Actual
Pronunciation
- US IPA: /ˈæk.(t)ʃ(ʊ).əl/
- RP IPA: /ˈæktʃju.əl/, /ˈæktʃʊ.əl/
Origin
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").
Full definition of actual
Adjective
actual
- Existing in act or reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact.
- 2013-06-07, Gary Younge, Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution, They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.
- the actual cost of goods; the actual case under discussion
- Factual, real, not just apparent or even false.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 1, 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.
- (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
- (obsolete) Active, not passive.
- Shakespeareher walking and other actual performances.
- Jeremy TaylorLet your holy and pious intention be actual; that is ... by a special prayer or action, ... given to God.
- Used to emphasise a noun or verb, whether something is real or metaphorical.
- 2013-08-03, The machine of a new soul, 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 “modernâ€. 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.
She Literally Exploded, page 3
Antonyms
- (existing in act or reality) potential, possible, virtual, speculative, conceivable, theoretical, nominal, hypothetical, estimated
- (in action at the time being) future, past
Derived terms
Noun
actual
(plural actuals)- An actual, real one; notably:
- (finance) Something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.
- (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, Snakebite leader" (The person with the callsign "Snakebite leader" requests to speak to the commander of company Bravo and not the radio operator.)