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In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actuall performances, what (at any time) haue you heard her say?
1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living:
Let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is […] by a special prayer or action, […] given to God.
1946, The American Ecclesiastical Review, volume 114:
Apparently, the holy Doctor was referring to actual, rather than original, sin; yet the basis of his argument for Mary's holiness, the divine maternity, would logically lead to the conclusion that she was free from original sin also.
The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the revolution in France:
If this be your actual situation, compared to the situation to which you were called, as it were by the voice of God and man, I cannot find it in my heart to congratulate you on the choice you have made, or the success which has attended your endeavours.
c.1793, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, Penguin, published 1990, page 85:
To my actual feelings it seems incredible that I could ever believe that I believed in Transubstantiation!
Used as intensifier to emphasise a following noun; exact, specific, very.
[H]ow the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.
Usage notes
In most Romance, Slavic and Germanic languages the cognate of actual means “current”. This meaning has also been used in English since the sixteenth century but is now rare due to a semantic shift.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
(finance) something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.
(military) a radio callsignmodifier 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.
Bravo Six Actual, this is Charlie One. Come in, over. (The radio operator is requesting to speak to the commander of the unit under the call sign "Bravo Six", as opposed to any available member of the unit.)
There was that desolate air about the chamber which is peculiar to an ill-furnished London room: cities need luxuries, were it only to conceal the actual.
Pre-reform spelling (until Brazil 1943/Portugal 1990) ofatual. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.
San Pablo nació en Tarso de Cilicia en la actual Turquía.
Saint Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia in present-day Turkey.
Usage notes
Actual is a false friend, and does not mean the same as the English word actual. Spanish equivalents are shown above, in the "Translations" section of the English entry actual.