Dictionary entry

Actual

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Ac″tu‐al (#; 135), a. [OE. actuel, F. actuel, L. actualis, fr. agere to do, act.] 1. Involving or comprising action; active.

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.