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# actual

«actual» in Mova's school dictionary: **real or true, not just guessed, imagined or planned** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (actual); adverb: actually

### meaning for a pupil

1) Actual means real or true, not just guessed, imagined or planned. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#m1)

2) Actual is used to stress the exact thing itself, as in «the actual answer». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and science it separates a real measurement from an estimate: «estimated length» vs «actual length»; you can find the difference between them. In stories it shows what really happened. Phrases: «the actual cost», «in actual fact», «actual size».

### examples

- I guessed 50 sweets, but the actual number was 62. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x1)
- The picture shows the beetle at actual size. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x2)
- What is the difference between the estimate and the actual answer? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x3)
- The actual party starts at six, not five. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x4)
- In actual fact, the moon has no light of its own. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x5)
- The plan said ten minutes, but the actual trip took twenty. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x6)
- But in the actual Russia of to-day, snakes bear by no means so bad a character. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/#x7)

### note

False friend: in many languages a word like «actual» means «current» or «up to date»; in English actual means real. «Actually» often means «in fact» or corrects someone: «Actually, it's Tuesday.» Maths: error = actual − estimate (or the other way round, say which).

### In the corpora

- [Being inspired means using an idea or style in something new; copying means taking the actual picture.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/35-copying-vs-being-inspired-tracing-covers-giving-credit/15/)
- [Borrowing an author's techniques is good practice; copying their actual words and calling them yours is not.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/54-reading-and-writing-like-a-writer/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «actual» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/actual/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.