actuarial
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of actuarial
First recorded in 1850–55; actuar(y) ( def. ) + -ial ( def. )
Explanation
Actuarial data are the statistics used to calculate various sorts of risk that insurance companies insure people against. If you want to know how likely it is for your car to be stolen, there is surely some actuarial data that could give you an answer. Actuarial science includes statistics, probability, mathematics, and economics, and the people trained in it are called actuaries. When you buy a homeowner's insurance policy, for instance, the insurance company calculates how much they’ll charge you by consulting the actuarial data, which tells them how likely it is that something will happen to your house (based on how old your house is, where it’s located, the building materials, your credit rating, and lots of other factors).
Vocabulary lists containing actuarial
The Inheritance Games
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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I Will Always Write Back
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s another bean to consider in those actuarial tables.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
“Greenspan used his expertise as an economic empiricist to convince both sides to agree on a singular, shared set of actuarial facts. Quite an accomplishment.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
In theory, the actuarial adjustments are designed so that the typical individual would receive the same lifetime benefits whenever they claim.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026
The 2024 actuarial valuation put the plan at 160% funded, with 5,945 annuitants and only six active members remaining.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The authorities were extremely strict about this, and the only kind of publication that would pass muster might be a quarterly on actuarial science for a prisoner studying accounting.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
