Link Centre Dictionary

actually

ac·tually

UK/ˈæk(t)ʃᵿli/ US/ˈæk(t)ʃʊəli/ very common informal

adverb

1.

in actual fact

  • “to be nominally but not actually independent”
  • “no one actually saw the shark”
  • “large meteorites actually come from the asteroid belt”
Synonyms
2.

used to imply that one would expect the fact to be the opposite of that stated; surprisingly

  • “you may actually be doing the right thing by walking out”
  • “she actually spoke Latin”
  • “they thought they made the rules but in reality they were only puppets”
  • “people who seem stand-offish are in reality often simply nervous”
Synonyms
3.

as a sentence modifier to add slight emphasis

  • “actually, we all help clear up after a meal”
  • “actually, I haven”
  • “;”
  • “m not all that surprised actually”
  • “she hasn”
4.

at the present moment

  • “the transmission screen shows the picture that is actually on the air”

Origin

From Middle English actually, actuelly, equivalent to actual + -ly.

Phrases

  • if I'm honest
  • if truth be told
  • tell the truth
  • tell you the truth
  • true dat
  • true that
  • truth be told
  • well actually

Related words

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.