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Webster 1913 Edition


Actual

Ac′tu-al

(#; 135)
,
Adj.
[OE.
actuel
, F.
actuel
, L.
actualis
, fr.
agere
to do, act.]
1.
Involving or comprising action; active.
[Obs.]
Her walking and other
actual
performances.
Shakespeare
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
.

Ac′tu-al

,
Noun.
(Finance)
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.

Webster 1828 Edition


Actual

ACT'UAL

, a.
1.
Real or effective, or that exists truly and absolutely; as, actual heat, opposed to that, which is virtual or potential; actual cautery, or the burning by a red-hot iron, opposed to a cautery or caustic application, that may produce the same effect upon the body by a different process.
2.
Existing in act; real; in opposition to speculative, or existing in theory only; as an actual crime.
3.
In theology, actual sin is that which is committed by a person himself, opposed to original sin, or the corruption of nature supposed to be communicated from Adam.
4.
That includes action.
Besides her walking and other actual performances. [Hardly legitimate.]