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Actual vs Latest - What's the difference?

actual | latest |

As adjectives the difference between actual and latest

is that actual is existing in act or reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact while latest is (late).

As nouns the difference between actual and latest

is that actual is an actual, real one; notably: while latest is the most recent thing, particularly information or news.

As an adverb latest is

.

actual

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Existing in act or reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}
  • Factual, real, not just apparent or even false.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=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.}}
  • (dated) In action at the time being; now existing; current.
  • (obsolete) Active, not passive.
  • * Shakespeare
    • her walking and other actual performances.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • Let your holy and pious intention be actual ; that is given to God.
  • Used to emphasise a noun or verb, whether something is real or metaphorical.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how 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 some foreign languages the counterpart of (actual) means “current”. This meaning also occurs in English written by non-native speakers, but is nonstandard English. * The phrase (term) is criticised by many as redundant., page 3

    Synonyms

    * (existing in act or reality) real * (in action at the time being) present * positive

    Antonyms

    * (existing in act or reality) potential, possible, virtual, speculative, conceivable, theoretical, nominal, hypothetical, estimated * (in action at the time being) future, past

    Derived terms

    * actualism * actualist * actuality * actualize * actualization * actually

    Related terms

    * activity * actor * actuary

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An actual, real one; notably:
  • # (finance) Something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.
  • # (military) 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.
    • "Bravo Six Actual , Snakebite leader" (The person with the callsign "Snakebite leader" requests to speak to the commander of company Bravo and not the radio operator.)

    See also

    * certain * genuine

    References

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    latest

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (late)
  • Last, final.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.i:
    • Whiles the sad pang approching she does feele, / Brayes out her latest breath, and vp her eyes doth seele.
  • Most recent.
    • Here is the latest news on the accident.

    Adverb

    (head)
  • At the latest.
    • Complete the XYZ task latest by today 5:00PM.
    (English Citations of "latest")

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The most recent thing, particularly information or news.
    • Have you heard the latest ?
    What's the latest on the demonstrations in New York?
    Have you met Jane's latest ? I hear he's a hunk.
  • *
  • * {{quote-book, title=Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, page=54, books.google.com/books?isbn=156000830X,
    • author=(Edward Digby Baltzell), year=1979, passage=It has often been said that Philadelphia is the city of firsts, Boston of bests, and New York of latests .}}

    Anagrams

    *