Word Direct Answers

What does "actual" mean?

Actual: Existing in act or reality; really acted or acting; in fact; real; -- opposed to potential, possible, virtual, speculative, coceivable, theoretical, or nominal; as, the actual cost of goods; the actual case under discussion.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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." See Real.
  2. 3.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.

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