Actual and Formal

Actual

Actual adjective - Existing in fact and not merely as a possibility.

Formal is an antonym for actual.

Formal

Formal adjective - Being something in name or form only.
Usage example: was the formal head of the charitable organization though he never attended a single meeting

Actual is an antonym for formal.

Both words in one sentence

  • Useful Notes / Katanas of the Rising Sun To make matters even confusing, the actual squadron name used the formal pronunciation shinpu; the Allied translators managed to get it wrong through Alternate Character Reading.
  • Kid Samurai While she's skilled in formal martial arts, her inexperience with actual life-or-death fighting nearly gets her killed at numerous points early in the series.
    Source: Kid Samurai
  • The Clans are a lot more formal early on; cats refer to parents by their actual names rather than calling them "mother" or "father", and there is almost no use of slang such as "cool".
Cite this Source
Formal and Actual. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 07, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/actual/formal
Actual & Formal. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/actual/formal>.
Formal or Actual. 2016. Accessed August 07, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/actual/formal.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "actual" and "formal" have occurred on timeline