Definitions for: Actual


[adj] presently existing in fact and not merely potential or possible; "the predicted temperature and the actual temperature were markedly different"; "actual and imagined conditions"
[adj] being or existing at the present moment; "the ship's actual position is 22 miles due south of Key West"
[adj] existing in fact whether with lawful authority or not; "de facto segregation is as real as segration imposed by law"; "a de facto state of war"
[adj] taking place in reality; not pretended or imitated; "we saw the actual wedding on television"; "filmed the actual beating"
[adj] of the nature of fact; having actual existence; "rocks and trees...the actual world"; "actual heroism"; "the actual things that produced the emotion you experienced"
[adj] being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something; "her actual motive"; "a literal solitude like a desert"- G.K.Chesterton; "a genuine dilemma"



Webster (1913) Definition: Ac"tu*al (#; 135), a. [OE. actuel, F. actuel, L.
actualis, fr. agere to do, act.]
1. Involving or comprising action; active. [Obs.]

Her walking and other actual performances. --Shak.

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, n. (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.

Synonyms: actualised, actualized, current, de facto, effective, existent, factual, genuine, literal, real, true, very(a)

Antonyms: de jure, possible, potential

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