Ac"tu*al (#; 135), a. [OE. actuel, F. actuel, L. actualis, fr. agere to do, act.] 1. Involving or comprising action; active. [Obs.]
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.
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Ac"tu*al (&?;), n. (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.
Ac"tu*al*ist, n. One who deals with or considers actually existing facts and conditions, rather than fancies or theories; -- opposed to idealist. J. Grote.
Ac`tu*al"i*ty (&?;), n.; pl. Actualities (&?;). The state of being actual; reality; as, the actuality of God's nature. South.
Ac`tu*al*i*za"tion (&?;), n. A making actual or really existent. [R.] Emerson.
Ac"tu*al*ize (&?;), v. t. To make actual; to realize in action. [R.] Coleridge.
Ac"tu*al*ly, adv. 1. Actively. [Obs.] "Neither actually . . . nor passively." Fuller.