different between actual vs pure

English

Etymology

From Middle English actual, actuel (“active”), from Anglo-Norman actuel, actual, and its source Late Latin actu?lis (“active, practical”), from Latin actus (“act, action, performance”), from agere (“to do; to act”) + -alis (“-al”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?æk(t)?(?w)?l/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ak(t)?j(?)?l/
• (dated, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?aktj(?)?l/

Adjective

actual (not comparable)

1. (chiefly theology) relating to a person's acts or deeds; active, practical [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, First Folio 1623, V.1:

     In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actuall performances, what (at any time) haue you heard her say?

   • 1946, The American Ecclesiastical Review, vol. 114:

     Apparently, the holy Doctor was referring to actual, rather than original, sin; yet the basis of his argument for Mary's holiness, the divine maternity, would logically lead to the conclusion that she was free from original sin also.

2. Existing in reality, not just potentially; really acted or acting; occurring in fact. [from 14th c.]

   Synonym: real

   Antonyms: potential, possible, virtual, speculative, conceivable, theoretical, nominal, hypothetical, estimated

3. (now rare) in action at the time being; now existing; current. [from 16th c.]
   • c. 1793, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, Penguin 1990, p. 85:

     To my actual feelings it seems incredible that I could ever believe that I believed in Transubstantiation!

4. Used as intensifier to emphasise a following noun; exact, specific, very. [from 18th c.]

   Synonym: present

   Antonyms: future, past

Usage notes

• In most Romance, Slavic and Germanic languages the cognate of actual means “current”. This meaning has also been used in English since the sixteenth century but is now rare due to a semantic shift.
• The phrase in actual fact has been proscribed by some prescriptivist sources as redundant.

Synonyms

• positive

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

actual (plural actuals)

1. an actual, real one; notably:
   1. (finance) something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.
   2. (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.

      Bravo Six Actual, this is Charlie One. Come in, over. (The radio operator is requesting to speak to the commander of the unit under the call sign "Bravo Six.")

See also

• certain
• genuine

References

Further reading

• actual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• actual in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• acault

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin actu?lis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?k.tu?al/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ak.tu?al/

Adjective

actual (masculine and feminine plural actuals)

1. present, current
2. factual

Derived terms

Related terms

• actualitat

Further reading

• “actual” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “actual” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “actual” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “actual” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin actu?lis.

Adverb

actual m or f (plural actuais)

1. current, present
2. factual, real, actual

Derived terms

Related terms

• actualidade

Further reading

• “actual” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Interlingua

Adjective

actual

1. present, current
2. factual
3. (philosophy) actual, real

Related terms

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman actuel and Late Latin ?ctu?lis; equivalent to act +? -al.

Alternative forms

• actuale, actualle, actuelle

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aktiu??a?l/, /?aktiu?al/, /aktiu????l/, /?aktiu??l/

Adjective

actual

1. actual, real, true
2. (philosophy, theology) active

Derived terms

• actualy

Descendants

• English: actual
• Scots: actual

References

• “act???l, -??l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Occitan

Alternative forms

• actuau (Gascon)

Etymology

From Latin actu?lis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

actual m (feminine singular actuala, masculine plural actuals, feminine plural actualas)

1. current

Derived terms

• actualament

Related terms

• actualitat

Portuguese

Adjective

actual m or f (plural actuais, comparable)

1. Superseded spelling of atual.

Romanian

Etymology

From French actuel, from Latin actualis.

Adjective

actual m or n (feminine singular actual?, masculine plural actuali, feminine and neuter plural actuale)

1. present-day

Declension

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ak(t)w?l/

Adjective

actual (comparative mair actual, superlative maist actual)

1. actual

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin actu?lis. Cognate with English actual although a false friend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a??twal/, [a???t?wal]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

actual (plural actuales)

1. present, current
2. factual
3. (philosophy) actual, real
4. present-day

Usage notes

• Actual is a false friend, and does not mean the same as the English word actual. Spanish equivalents are shown above, in the "Translations" section of the English entry actual.

Derived terms

Related terms

• actualidad

Prepositional phrase

actual m (plural actuales)

1. (preceded by del) Of the current month, year, etc.

   Synonyms: corriente, presente

See also

• Appendix:False friends between English and Spanish

Further reading

• “actual” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

Anagrams

• culata

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English pure, pur, from Old French pur, from Latin p?rus (“clean, free from dirt or filth, unmixed, plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to cleanse, purify”). Displaced native Middle English lutter (“pure, clear, sincere”) (from Old English hl?tor, hluttor), Middle English skere (“pure, sheer, clear”) (from Old English sc?re and Old Norse sk?r), Middle English schir (“clear, pure”) (from Old English sc?r), Middle English smete, smeate (“pure, refined”) (from Old English sm?te; compare Old English m?re (“pure”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pj??/, /?pj??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?pj??/, /?pj??/
• (cure-fir merger, rhotic) IPA^(key): /?pj?/
• (cure-fir merger, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /?pj??/
• (US)
• Rhymes: -??(r), -??(?)

Adjective

pure (comparative purer or more pure, superlative purest or most pure)

1. Free of flaws or imperfections; unsullied.
3. Free of foreign material or pollutants.
   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy.

4. Free of immoral behavior or qualities; clean.
   • c. 1530, William Tyndale (translator), Bible, 1 Timothy, 5:22,

     Laye hondes sodely^[suddenly] on no man nether be partaker of other mes^[men's] synnes: kepe thy silfe pure.

5. Mere; that and that only.

   That idea is pure madness!

6. (of a branch of science) Done for its own sake instead of serving another branch of science.
7. (phonetics) Of a single, simple sound or tone; said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.
8. (of sound) Without harmonics or overtones; not harsh or discordant.

Synonyms

• (free of flaws): see Thesaurus:pure
• (free of foreign material): see Thesaurus:raw
• (free of immoral behavior): innocent

Antonyms

• (free of flaws): dirty, flawed, impure
• (free of foreign material): contaminated, impure
• (free of immoral behavior): corrupt, guilty, sinful
• (done for its own sake): applied

Derived terms

• pure finder
• as pure as the driven snow

Related terms

• purification
• purify
• purity
• puritan
• puritanism
• purist
• purism

Translations

Adverb

pure (not comparable)

1. (Liverpudlian, Scotland) to a great extent or degree; extremely; exceedingly.

   You’re pure busy.

   • 1996, Trainspotting (film)

     I just get pure shy with the interview cats.

Translations

Verb

pure (third-person singular simple present pures, present participle puring, simple past and past participle pured)

1. (golf) to hit (the ball) completely cleanly and accurately

   Tiger Woods pured his first drive straight down the middle of the fairway.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To cleanse; to refine.

Noun

pure (countable and uncountable, plural pures)

1. One who, or that which, is pure.
   • 1845, The Lancet, page 187:

     ... the establishment of an inferior College, and the consequent connexion of the many thousands of British practitioners in medicine and surgery with a subordinate institution, and one that should be subservient to the government of the pures.

   • c. 1870, D. K. Gavan, Rocky Road to Dublin:

     Took a drop of the pure, to keep my spirits from sinking, […]

   • 1998, Christopher Leigh Connery, The Empire of the Text: Writing and Authority in Early Imperial China, Rowman & Littlefield (?ISBN), page 30:

     All interpretive frames will impose their categories on the object of historical analysis, and I am not proposing that this narrative of the "pures"; be rejected in favor of some phantasmatic framework that claims to derive more purely from the sources themselves. I will show in chapter 3 that, since the "pures" possibly did not even exist […]

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pj??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): /pj??/

Noun

pure (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of puer (“dung (e.g. of dogs)”)
   • 1851, H. Mayhew, London Labour and the London poor, vII. 142/1:

     […] Dogs'-dung is called ‘Pure’, from its cleansing and purifying properties.

   • 2001, Wendy Lawton, The Tinker's Daughter, ch. 8:

     Mary smelled the rancid odor of the tannery on the right side of the road. […]

     "What is that, Mary?" Jake asked.

     "'Tis a bag for collecting pure. That is going to be your job, Jake. You are to collect pure."

     "Pure? What is pure?"

     "Pure is another word for dung," Mary answered.

   • 2013, Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam, p. 28:

     […] surely there was something better for him than chasing the pure (footnote: A term, technically speaking, for dog muck, much prized by the tanneries.) […]

Further reading

• pure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pure in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Peru, Pre-U, Prue, Pu'er, Rupe, pu'er, puer, re-up, reup

Danish

Etymology 1

From Latin p?re, the adverb of p?rus (“clean, pure”); or the definite form of pur (“pure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu?r?/, [?p?u???]

Adjective

pure

1. complete
2. (adverbial) completely

Inflection

Etymology 2

From French purée (“puree”).

Alternative forms

• puré

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pyre/, [p?y??æ]

Noun

pure c (singular definite pureen, plural indefinite pureer)

1. puree

Inflection

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu?r?/, [?p?u???]

Adjective

pure

1. definite of pur
2. plural of pur

Esperanto

Adverb

pure

1. purely

Finnish

Verb

pure

1. inflection of purra:
   1. indicative present connegative
   2. second-person singular imperative present/present connegative

Anagrams

• Peru, peru

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py?/
• Homophones: pur, purs, pures
• Rhymes: -y?

Adjective

pure

1. feminine singular of pur

Anagrams

• peur
• puer
• repu
• rupe, rupé

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

pure

1. inflection of pur:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure

Etymology 1

Adjective

pure

1. feminine plural of puro

Etymology 2

From Latin p?r?, the adverb of p?rus.

Adverb

pure

1. too, also, as well

   Synonym: anche

2. well, surely
3. please, by all means
4. if you like; if you want (etc.)

Conjunction

pure

1. even though, even if, although
2. nevertheless

References

Anagrams

• Perù
• prue
• rupe

Latin

Etymology 1

From p?rus (“clean; pure”) and -e (“-ly, -ily”).

Adverb

p?r? (comparative p?rius, superlative p?rissim?)

1. clearly, brightly, cleanly
2. correctly, faultlessly, perfectly, purely

   Loqui pure.

   To speak correctly.

Synonyms

• (correctly): ?mend?t?

Etymology 2

Noun

p?re

1. ablative singular of p?s

References

• pure in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pure in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Anagrams

• puer, r?pe

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pur, puyr, pore, poure, peure, pu?r, puir, puire, puyre

Etymology

From Old French pur, from Latin p?rus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piu?r/

Adjective

pure (comparative purer, superlative purest)

1. pure, unadulterated, undiluted, untarnished
2. entire, total, all
3. perfect, wonderful, unflawed
4. morally clean, pure, or upstanding
5. chaste
6. true, real, genuine, not counterfeit
7. clear, obvious, simple

Descendants

• Scots: puir, pure
• English: pure
• ? Cornish: pur

References

• “p?r(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-02.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

pure m (definite singular pureen, indefinite plural pureer, definite plural pureene)

1. alternative spelling of puré

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??re?/ (example of pronunciation)

Noun

pure m (definite singular pureen, indefinite plural purear, definite plural pureane)

1. alternative spelling of puré

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²p??.r?/ (example of pronunciation)

Adjective

pure

1. definite singular of pur
2. plural of pur

Rapa Nui

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *pule.

Noun

pure

1. cowrie

Swedish

Adjective

pure

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of pur.

Anagrams

• Peru