What is the difference between actual and real?
actual | real |
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= Factual, real, not just apparent or even false.
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=1 (dated) In action at the time being; now existing; current.
(obsolete) Active, not passive.
* Shakespeare
* Jeremy Taylor
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= 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.
True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
* 2007 , Jim Kokoris, The Rich Part of Life: A Novel (ISBN 1429976438), page 179:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
* {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
, page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist)
Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
* Milton:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
, volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
* Milton:
That has objective, physical existence.
(economics) Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power .
(economics) Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
(mathematics, of a number) Being either a rational number, or the limit of a convergent infinite sequence of rational numbers: being one of a set of numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line.
(legal) Relating to immovable tangible property.
* Francis Bacon
Absolute, complete, utter.
(slang)
(US, colloquial) Really, very.
A commodity; see reality.
(grammar) One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
(mathematics) A real number.
*
(obsolete) A realist.
Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies.
A coin worth one real.
A unit of currency used in Portugal and its colonies from 1430 until 1911, and in Brazil from 1790 until 1942
A coin worth one real.
A unit of currency used in Brazil since 1994. Symbol: .
* 2011 , Perry Anderson, "Lula's Brazil", London Review of Books , 33.VII:
A coin worth one real.
Real is a synonym of actual.
In lang=en terms the difference between actual and real
is that actual is in action at the time being; now existing; current while real is Signifying meritorious qualities or actions especially as regard the enjoyment of life, prowess at sports, or success wooing potential partners.In obsolete terms the difference between actual and real
is that actual is active, not passive while real is a realist.As adjectives the difference between actual and real
is that actual is existing in act or reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact while real is true, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.As nouns the difference between actual and real
is that actual is an actual, real one; notably while real is a commodity; see reality.As an adverb real is
really, very.As a proper noun Real is
Real Madrid, a football club from Madrid.actual
English
Adjective
(-)Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution, passage=They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}
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.}}
- her walking and other actual performances.
- Let your holy and pious intention be actual ; that is given to God.
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 3Synonyms
* (existing in act or reality) real * (in action at the time being) present * positiveAntonyms
* (existing in act or reality) potential, possible, virtual, speculative, conceivable, theoretical, nominal, hypothetical, estimated * (in action at the time being) future, pastDerived terms
* actualism * actualist * actuality * actualize * actualization * actuallyNoun
(en noun)- "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 * genuineReferences
External links
* *Anagrams
* ----real
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) reel, from .Adjective
(en-adj)- [T]he real reason he didn't come was because he was scared of flying[.]
Travels and travails, passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
citation, passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
- Whose perfection far excelled / Hers in all real dignity.
The tao of tech, passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you
- a description of real life
- I waked, and found / Before mine eyes all real , as the dream / Had lively shadowed.
- Many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business.
Synonyms
* true, actual * authentic, genuine, actual * authentic, genuine, heartfelt, true, actual * (that has physical existence) actualAntonyms
* imaginary, unreal * artificial, counterfeit, fake, sham * feigned, sham, staged * (that has physical existence) fictitious, imaginary, made-up, pretend (informal) * (relating to numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line) imaginaryDerived terms
* for real * get real * keep it real * real analysis * real asset * real axis * real body * real capital * real deal/the real deal * real estate * real focus * real image * real income * reality * real life * real line * really * real market * real matrix * real McCoy * realness * real number * real option * real part * real presence * real property * real return * real soon now * real storage * real stuff * real tennis * real thing/the real thing * real time * real-valued * real variable * real wages * real world/real-worldAdverb
(-)Noun
(en noun)- There have been several classical constructions of the reals that avoid these prob-
lems, the most famous ones being Dedekind Cuts'' and ''Cauchy Sequences , named
respectively for the mathematicians Richard Dedekind (1831 - 1916) and Augustine
Cauchy (1789 - 1857). We will not discuss these constructions here, but will use a
more modern one developed by Gabriel Stolzenberg, based on "interval arithmetic."
- (Burton)
Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Noun
(reales)Etymology 3
From (etyl) .Noun
Noun
(en-noun)- Within weeks of this bombshell, an aide to the brother of the chairman of the PT, José Genoino, was arrested boarding a flight with 200,000 reais in a suitcase and $100,000 in his underpants.
