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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

actual.

relating to a person's acts or deeds; active, practical

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈækʃuəl//ˈækʃəl//ˈæktʃuəl//ˈæktʃəl/

  1. relating to a person's acts or deeds; active, practical

    not-comparable

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

    not-comparable
    the actual cost of goods; the actual case under discussion
    The actual government expenses dramatically exceed the budget.

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

    not-comparable

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

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ˈækʃuəl//ˈækʃəl//ˈæktʃuəl//ˈæktʃəl/

  1. an actual, real one; notably: something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.

    countable · uncountable

  2. an actual, real one; notably: 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.

    countable · uncountable
    Bravo Six Actual, this is Charlie One. Come in, over.

  3. Reality, usually with the definite article.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.