actual

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   presently existing in fact and not merely potential or possible

   the predicted temperature and the actual temperature were markedly different

2. 2
   adj

   being or existing at the present moment

   the ship's actual position is 22 miles due south of Key West

3. 3
   adj

   existing in act or fact

   rocks and trees...the actual world

4. 4
   adj

   being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something

   Your actual motive is still unbeknownst to me.

5. 5
   adj

   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?

6. 6
   adj

   Existing in reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact.

   the actual cost of goods; the actual case under discussion

7. 7
   adj

   in action at the time being; now existing; current.

   If this be your actual situation, compared to the situation to which you were called, as it were by the voice of God and man, I cannot find it in my heart to congratulate you on the choice you have made, or the success which has attended your endeavours.

8. 8
   adj

   Used as intensifier to emphasise a following noun; exact, specific, very.

   [H]ow 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.

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-. By surface analysis, act + -u- + -al.