actual
//ˈækʃuəl//
Forms
- Plural
- actuals
Definitions
1.relating to a person's acts or deeds; active, practical
- In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actuall performances, what (at any time) haue you heard her say?
- Let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is […] by a special prayer or action, […] given to God.
2.Existing in reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact.
- The actual government expenses dramatically exceed the budget.
- They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.
3.in action at the time being; now existing; current.
- To my actual feelings it seems incredible that I could ever believe that I believed in Transubstantiation!
4.Used as intensifier to emphasise a following noun; exact, specific, very.
1.Reality, usually with the definite article.
- There was that desolate air about the chamber which is peculiar to an ill-furnished London room: cities need luxuries, were it only to conceal the actual.
2.an actual, real one; notably:
- Bravo Six Actual, this is Charlie One. Come in, over.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1480
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English actual, actuel (“active”), from Anglo-Norman actuel, actual, and its source Late Latin actuālis (“active, practical”), from Latin actus (“act, action, performance”), from agere (“to do; to act”) + -alis (“-al”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti, from the root *h₂eǵ-.