actually

Meanings

Adverb

• in actual fact
  • "to be nominally but not actually independent"
  • "no one actually saw the shark"
  • "large meteorites actually come from the asteroid belt"
• 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"
• at the present moment
  • "the transmission screen shows the picture that is actually on the air"
• as a sentence modifier to add slight emphasis
  • "actually, we all help clear up after a meal"
  • "actually, I haven't seen the film"
  • "I'm not all that surprised actually"
  • "she hasn't proved to be too satisfactory, actually"

Synonyms

in reality, really