Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Actual \Ac"tu*al\ (#; 135), a. [OE. actuel, F. actuel, L.
   actualis, fr. agere to do, act.]
   1. Involving or comprising action; active. [Obs.]

            Her walking and other actual performances. --Shak.

            Let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is
            . . . by a special prayer or action, . . . given to
            God.                                  --Jer. Taylor.

   2. Existing in act or reality; really acted or acting; in
      fact; real; -- opposed to {potential}, {possible},
      {virtual}, {speculative}, {conceivable}, {theoretical}, or
      {nominal}; as, the actual cost of goods; the actual case
      under discussion.

   3. In action at the time being; now exiting; present; as the
      actual situation of the country.

   {Actual cautery}. See under {Cautery}.

   {Actual sin} (Theol.), that kind of sin which is done by
      ourselves in contradistinction to ``original sin.''

   Syn: Real; genuine; positive; certain. See {Real}.

Cautery \Cau"ter*y\, n.; pl. {Cauteries}. [L. cauterium, Gr. ?.
   See {Cauter}.]
   1. (Med.) A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, with a
      hot iron, or by application of a caustic that will burn,
      corrode, or destroy animal tissue.

   2. The iron of other agent in cauterizing.

   {Actual cautery}, a substance or agent (as a hot iron) which
      cauterizes or sears by actual heat; or the burning so
      effected.

   {Potential cautery}, a substance which cauterizes by chemical
      action; as, lunar caustic; also, the cauterizing produced
      by such substance.