Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In fact; in reality: That tree is actually a fir, not a pine.
- adv. Used to express wonder, surprise, or incredulity: I actually won the lottery!
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- As an actual or existing fact; really; in truth: often used as an expression of wonder or surprise: as, he actually accomplished what he undertook.
- By action or active manifestation; in act or deed; practically.
Wiktionary
- adv. modal In act or in fact; really; in truth; positively.
- adv. obsolete actively
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. obsolete Actively.
- adv. In act or in fact; really; in truth; positively.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. as a sentence modifier to add slight emphasis
- adv. in actual fact
- adv. used to imply that one would expect the fact to be the opposite of that stated; surprisingly.
- adv. at the present moment
Etymologies
- actual ("real, true, veritable") + -ly (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The “actually” operator in modal logic is supposed to mirror the behavior of the English adverb ˜actually™ and adjective ˜actual™ in the examples below:”
“If the Cons do a volte-face and actually...*actually* put out policies to do national good, then kicking, screaming or otherwise, they were forced into it by the opposition parties standing up and booting them in the ass.”
“Oh, wait, such content is actually very difficult to find, according to anyone who * actually* knows anything about it.”
“not that the site is actually like that, and not that you *actually* believe that climate science is valid, and the only reason you oppose political action is because of minor, inconsequential, hypothetical, unproven problems that you admit are probably meaningless.”
“There are situations in which I take the lead and I protect him (mostly that’s for emotional stuff rather than physical though) thinking about this is quite disturbing actually to realise just how much pressure I must be putting on him to PROTECT me to TAKE CARE of me to LEAD – yeah I think I need to be dealing with that actually good job I started writing this eh?”
“The phrase actually translates as "this place is awe-inspiring", terribilis in an Old Testament sense rather than "terrible" in a modern sense, but you can imagine how it's been interpreted.”
“Making Plans for Lena" (the French title actually translates as "No, My Girl, You Won't Go Dancing"), the beautiful Chiara Mastroianni -- she's the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni -- plays a recovering divorcee who hides out at her family's place in the country while deciding if she can manage her two kids on her own.”
“Even though they pointed out the word actually translates as "Vaporize," the Russians still had a good laugh because I think they understood where we were coming from.”
“And yet, according to Capture's co-founder Tara Sharp, the label actually contains layers of meaning.”
“(And the fact is, my name actually is Yiddish for "Generic Jewish Kid.")”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘actually’.
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
everything
everythin?
a, i, aardvark, abdominals, any, anti-, ash, actuall, actually, add, abs, ass and 43 more...
-
The Over-Worked "Very"
Synonyms for the word "very"
absolutely, actually, acutely, amazingly, assuredly, astonishingly, certainly, decidedly, desperately, downright, emphatically, exceedingly and 43 more...
-
words
my words. my mind. my gosh.
try not to enjoy it too much.git, ghoti, sauce, quail, querulous, quarrelsome, reliability, untoward, incongruities, fission, fanatic, apple and 206 more...
-
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
quotato's Words
prospicience, appoggiatura, actually, thrum, nisus, univocal, eschatology, concupiscible, penury, psychedelic, vapid, braggadocio and 107 more...
-
Beknownst1981's list
I love words, especially the ones I make up with my friends.
translucent meat ..., beknownst (knew), plethora, curmudgeon, wanderlust, actually, differentiate, bearded, hobbit feet, female, sexy time, librarian and 220 more...
-
Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
-
my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
-
The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
-
Aeonn's Words
discombobulation, dank, crass, abolishment, quite, ubiquitous, crank, catapult, sponge, click, queer, irish and 124 more...
-
Words that I use far too often
I do, actually...
inappropriate, actually, totally, intrigued, over the top, bloody hell, fuck, hopefully, absolutely, takes the biscuit, takes the biscuit, basically and 1 more...
-
Boosting Words
Boosters in academic language, from Ken Hyland in Appendix 3 of Disciplinary Discourses (2000; Harlow, Essex:
Pearson)we know, we think, actually, always, apparent, beyond doubt, certain that, certainly, certainty, clearly, conclusively, decidedly and 30 more...
-
Dxpert's Words
typically, analysis, theorem, definitely, label, absolutely, bored, awkward, unfortunately, drastically, appointment, stopped and 36 more...
-
OM1 Lesson 5
cook, starving, pasta, spaghetti, sauce, tomato, green pepper, feeling, actually, better, flattery, trouble and 11 more...
-
Jheti's Words
ordinarily, diacritic, intrinsic, coalesce, salient, valence, crenellations, expurgate, relapse, disconsolate, matriculation, corrugated and 128 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for actually.
jeen0809 He actually isn't the president of our company. Mar 14, 2007
jiyoungchoi92 His mother said that she is satisfied with her son's grades. But actually, she wasn't. Mar 12, 2007
sonofgroucho This is actually a word I use far too often! Feb 7, 2007
quotato The word "actually", an adverb, is spoken both publically, and in private conversations, like a skipping CD. Nov 30, 2006