Fact vs Actual - What's the difference?
fact | actual |
(archaic) Action; the realm of action.
*
A wrongful or criminal deed.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.ix:
(obsolete) Feat.
*
An honest observation.
Something actual as opposed to invented.
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=2 Something which has become real.
Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.
An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of people.
Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.
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.
As an initialism fact
is federation against copyright theft.As an adjective actual is
existing in act or reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact.As a noun actual is
an actual, real one; notably:.fact
English
Noun
(en noun)- She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact , / Against that nation [...].
citation, passage=Mother
Antonyms
* (Something actual) fictionDerived terms
* factual * factoid * accessory after the fact * accessory before the fact * after the fact * as a matter of fact * attorney-in-fact * contrary to fact * fact-finding * fact-finder * fact of life * fact or fiction * fact sheet * finding of fact * in fact * in point of fact * * question of factSee also
* value * opinion * beliefExternal links
* *Statistics
*Anagrams
* 1000 English basic wordsactual
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.)
