Actual

How to spell actual

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce actual

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does actual mean?

1. adjectiveExisting in reality or fact, as opposed to what is assumed, estimated, or intended.

Actual in a sentence

• The actual cost of the repair was far higher than the quote.

• Her actual job title differs from the one on her business card.

Where does actual come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin actus, meaning 'a doing' or 'a deed', which came from agere, 'to do, drive, or act'. From this grew the Late Latin actualis, meaning 'active' or 'pertaining to action', and English took it through Old French actuel in the 1300s. At first it leaned on the sense of 'active' rather than 'real', but over the centuries the meaning shifted to its modern sense of 'existing in fact, genuine, as opposed to merely supposed'. The same agere root sits inside a whole family of relatives such as 'act', 'agent', and 'agile'. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: the '-tu-' is easily blurred in speech, so writers sometimes drop or reorder letters, and the ending is '-ual', not '-uel' as the French ancestor might tempt.

How the word is built

• act (from Latin actus: a doing, deed)
• -ual (adjective suffix forming 'relating to')