actual

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

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæk.(t)ʃ(ʊ).əl/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈæktʃju.əl/, /ˈæktʃʊ.əl/
  • Audio (US)(file)

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 most Romance and Germanic languages the cognate 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

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#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. ↑ Christopher Howse; Richard Preston (2007) She Literally Exploded: The Daily Telegraph Infuriating Phrasebook, London: Constable and Robinson, →ISBN, page 3.

Further reading

  • actual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • actual in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin actualis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

actual (masculine and feminine plural actuals)

  1. present, current
  2. factual

Further reading

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

Portuguese

Adjective

actual m, f (plural actuais, comparable)

  1. superseded spelling of atual.

Scots

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈak(t)wəl/

Adjective

actual (comparative mair actual, superlative maist actual)

  1. actual

References

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin actualis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aɡˈtwal/, [aɣˈt̪wal]
  • Rhymes: -al

Adjective

actual (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.

See also

  • Appendix:Spanish false cognates with English

Further reading

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