actually

From Middle English actualy, actuelly, equivalent to actual +‎ -ly.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈak.(t)ʃ(ʊ).ə.li/, /ˈak.(t)ʃə.li/, /-ɪ/
• (Received Pronunciation, dated) IPA^(key): /ˈak.(t)ʃʊ.ə.lɪ/, /ˈak.tjʊ.ə.lɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæk.(t)ʃu.ə.li/, /ˈæk.(t)ʃə.li/

• Audio (US)

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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.

• In other European languages, cognates of actually mean "now" or "currently"; (e.g., Portuguese "atualmente", Spanish "actualmente", French "actuellement", German "aktuell", Italian "attualmente", Czech "aktuálně"), making it a false friend. This leads many non-native speakers of English to use "actually" when they mean "now" or "currently".
• Some commentators have:
  1. remarked upon the irony that this qualifier of veracity often introduces an utter lie;[1] and,
  2. noted that in many cases, actually functions as little more than a vacuous emphatic utterance.[2]
• 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)

• actially (nonstandard)

• (in act or in fact): as a matter of fact, in reality, literally, really, truthfully; see also Thesaurus:actually

actually

1. actually

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