actual

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-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈæk(t)ʃ(u)əl/
• (dated, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæktj(ʊ)əl/
• (colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈæt͡ʃəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æktʃuəl, -æktʃəl, -ækʃuəl, -ækʃəl

actual (not comparable)

1. (chiefly theology) relating to a person's acts or deeds; active, practical [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actuall performances, what (at any time) haue you heard her say?

   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living:

     Let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is […] by a special prayer or action, […] given to God.

   • 1946, The American Ecclesiastical Review, volume 114:

     Apparently, the holy Doctor was referring to actual, rather than original, sin; yet the basis of his argument for Mary's holiness, the divine maternity, would logically lead to the conclusion that she was free from original sin also.

2. Existing in reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact. [from 14th c.]

   Synonym: real

   Antonyms: potential, possible, virtual, speculative, conceivable, theoretical, nominal, hypothetical, estimated

   the actual cost of goods;  the actual case under discussion

   The actual government expenses dramatically exceed the budget.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:

     They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.

3. (now rare) in action at the time being; now existing; current. [from 18th c.]

   Synonym: present

   Coordinate terms: future, past

   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the revolution in France:

     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.

   • c. 1793, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, Penguin, published 1990, page 85:

     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. [from 18th c.]
   • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     [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.

• In most Romance, Slavic and Germanic languages the cognate of actual means “current”. This meaning has also been used in English since the sixteenth century but is now rare due to a semantic shift.
• The phrase in actual fact has been proscribed by some prescriptivist sources as redundant.^[1]

• positive

actual (countable and uncountable, 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", as opposed to any available member of the unit.

2. (uncountable) Reality, usually with the definite article.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 161:

     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.

• certain
• genuine

• “actual”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “actual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• acault

Borrowed from Latin actuālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ək.tuˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ak.tuˈal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: ac‧tu‧al

actual m or f (masculine and feminine plural actuals)

1. present, current
2. factual

• actualitat

• “actual”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “actual”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “actual” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “actual” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Latin actuālis.

• IPA^(key): /aktuˈal/ [ɑk.t̪uˈɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: ac‧tu‧al

actual m or f (plural actuais)

1. current, present
2. factual, real, actual

• actualidade

• “actual”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

actual

1. present, current
2. factual
3. (philosophy) actual, real

• actuale, actualle, actuelle

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman actuel and Late Latin āctuālis; equivalent to act +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /aktiu̯ˈaːl/, /ˈaktiu̯al/, /aktiu̯ˈɛːl/, /ˈaktiu̯ɛl/

actual

1. actual, real, true
2. (philosophy, theology) active

• actualy

• English: actual
• Scots: actual

• “actūā̆l, -ē̆l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

• actuau (Gascony)

From Latin actuālis.

• Audio (Béarn):

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actual m (feminine singular actuala, masculine plural actuals, feminine plural actualas)

1. current

• actualament

• actualitat

actual m or f (plural actuais)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of atual. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Borrowed from French actuel, from Latin actualis. By surface analysis, act +‎ -ual.

actual m or n (feminine singular actuală, masculine plural actuali, feminine and neuter plural actuale)

1. present-day

• IPA^(key): /ˈak(t)wəl/

actual (comparative mair actual, superlative maist actual)

1. actual

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Borrowed from Latin actuālis. Cognate with English actual although a false friend.

• IPA^(key): /aɡˈtwal/ [aɣ̞ˈt̪wal]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ac‧tual

actual m or f (masculine and feminine plural actuales)

1. present, current
   • 2025 May 30, David Goldman and Elisabeth Buchwald, “Trump anuncia que los aranceles al acero aumentarán a 50 %”, in CNN en Español‎^[1]:

     El presidente Donald Trump anunció este viernes que establecerá aranceles del 50 % al acero importado a Estados Unidos, el doble de la tasa actual.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. factual
3. (philosophy) actual, real
4. present-day

   San Pablo nació en Tarso de Cilicia en la actual Turquía.

   Saint Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia in present-day Turkey.

• 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.

actual m (plural actuales)

1. (preceded by del) of the current month, year, etc.

   Synonyms: corriente, presente

   El día veinte del actual.

   The twentieth of this [month].

• Appendix:False friends between English and Spanish

• “actual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

• culata