ACTUAL, something that is real and effective, or that exists truly and absolutely. Thus philosophers use the terms actual heat, actual cold, &c. in opposition to virtual or potential. Hence, among physicians, a red hot iron, or fire, is called an actual cautery; in distinction from cauteries, or caustics, that have the power of producing the same effect upon the animal solids as actual fire, and are called potential cauteries. Boiling water is actually hot; brandy, producing heat in the body, is potentially hot, though of itself cold.