different between emphatic vs actually

English

Alternative forms

• emphatick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????????? (emphatikós, “emphatic”), from ??????? (emphaín?, “I show, present”), from ?? (en, “in”) + ????? (phaín?, “I shine, show”); related to ??????? (émphasis) and English emphasis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?fæt?k/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?m?fæt?k/
• Rhymes: -æt?k

Adjective

emphatic (comparative more emphatic, superlative most emphatic)

1. Characterized by emphasis; forceful.
2. Stated with conviction.

   He gave me an emphatic no when I asked him out.

3. (grammar) Belonging to a set of English tense forms comprising the auxiliary verb do + an infinitive without to.
4. (phonology) Belonging to a series of obstruent consonants in several Semitic languages that are distinguished from both voiced and voiceless consonants by a certain phonetic feature or features.
   1. pharyngealized consonants in Arabic, Hebrew, and other Northwest Semitic languages
   2. ejectives in Ge'ez, Amharic, and other Ethiopic Semitic languages

Derived terms

• emphatically

Related terms

• emphasis
• emphasise, emphasize

Translations

Noun

emphatic (plural emphatics)

1. (phonology) An emphatic consonant.
2. (linguistics) A word or phrase adding emphasis, such as "a lot" or "really".

See also

• phatic

Anagrams

• empathic

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ak.(t)??.?.li/, /?ak.(t)??li/, /?ak.(t)??.li/, /?ak.(t)?li/
  • (Conservative RP) IPA^(key): /?ak.(t)??.?.l?/, /?ak.tj?.?.l?/
  • (UK, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /?at?.u.li/, /?at?.?.li/, /?at?.li/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æk.(t)?u.(?.)li/, /?æk.(t)?u.li/, /?æk.(t)??.li/, /?æk.(t)?li/

Adverb

actually (not comparable)

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

2. (obsolete) Actively.

   • Neither actually […] nor passively.

Usage notes

• In other European languages, cognates of actually mean "now" or "currently"; (e.g., Portuguese "atualmente", Spanish "actualmente", French "actuellement", German "aktuell", Italian "attualmente", Czech "aktuáln?"), 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; 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)

Alternative forms

• actially (nonstandard)
• ackshually, ackshully, akshully, ackshly, akshly (eye dialect)

Synonyms

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

Translations

References

Middle English

Adverb

actually

1. Alternative form of actualy

Scots

Adverb

actually

1. actually

References

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