actually

English

Etymology

actual (“real, true, veritable”) + -ly

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈæk.(t)ʃʊ.ə.li/, /ˈæk.(t)ʃə.li/
• (US) IPA: /ˈæk.(t)ʃu.ə.li/, /ˈæk.(t)ʃə.li/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adverb

actually (not comparable)

1. (modal) In act or in fact; really; in truth; positively.

   Actually, I had nothing to do with that incident.

2. (obsolete) actively

   Neither actually […] nor passively. — Fuller.

Alternative forms

• actially (nonstandard)

Usage notes

• In some other languages a word of similar spelling means "now" or "currently"; (e.g., Portuguese "atualmente", Spanish "actualmente", French "actuellement", German "aktuell", Italian "attualmente", Czech "aktuálně"). This leads many non-native speakers of English to use "actually" when they mean "now".
• Some commentators have:
  1. remarked upon the irony that this qualifier of veracity often introduces an utter lie; and,
  2. noted that in many cases, actually functions as little more than a vacuous emphatic utterance.
• In practice, actually and its synonyms are often used to insinuate that the following is either unusual or contrary to a norm or preceding assumption, or to merely preface an overconfident opinion contrasting a previous statement or norm (as per 'vacuous emphasis' note above).

This is actually a really beautiful song. (contrasting opinion)

Actually, I'm not from France - I'm from Switzerland. (contrary from assumption)

At the check-out, the cashier actually greeted me for once. (contrary from norm)

Synonyms

• in reality
• literally
• really
• truthfully

Translations

really

• Arabic: فعلاً (ar) (fi`lan)
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: всъщност (bg) (vsǎštnost), в действителност (bg) (v dejstvitelnost)
• Catalan: de fet (ca), en realitat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 究竟 (cmn) (jiūjìng), 其實 (cmn), 其实 (cmn) (qíshí)

• Czech: skutečně (cs), opravdu (cs)
• Danish: egentlig (da)
• Dutch: eigenlijk (nl), in werkelijkheid (nl), feitelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: efektive (eo)
• Estonian: tegelikult (et)
• Finnish: itse asiassa (fi), oikeastaan (fi), varsinaisesti (fi)
• French: en fait (fr), effectivement (fr) (not: actuellement)
• German: eigentlich (de)
• Greek: βασικά (el) (vassiká) 
• Hebrew: למעשה (le'ma'ase)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: tulajdonképpen (hu)

• Italian: realmente (not: attualmente), davvero (it), realmente (it)
• Japanese: 本当に　(ほんとうに, hontō ni); 実際に (jissai ni), 実は (jitsu wa)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: please add this translation if you can
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: faktisk (no), for øyeblikket (no), i virkeligheten (no), reelt sett (no)
• Persian: در واقع, در حقیقت
• Polish: właściwie (pl), naprawdę (pl), faktycznie (pl)
• Portuguese: na verdade, realmente (not: atualmente)
• Russian: действительно (ru) (dejstvítel’no) , вообще-то (ru) (voobščé-to) , на самом деле (ru) (na sámom déle) 
• Spanish: en realidad (es), de hecho (es), realmente (es), de hecho (es), de veras (es), (obsolete) de vero (es)
• Swedish: verkligen (sv), egentligen (sv), faktiskt (sv), i själva verket (sv)
• Turkish: aslında (tr)
• Vietnamese: thực sự (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can