actuarial

American  

[ak-choo-air-ee-uhl] / ˌæk tʃuˈɛər i əl /

Rarely actuarian

adjective

1. Insurance. relating to or being the science of computing premium rates, risks, dividends, etc., according to probabilities based on statistics.

   Over this period, the fund earned a return of 14.37%, exceeding the actuarial assumed return of 7.70%.

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Other Word Forms

• actuarially
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of actuarial

First recorded in 1850–55; actuar(y) ( def. ) + -ial ( def. )

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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).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

actuarial

The single biggest driver was a $553 billion actuarial gain, meaning the present value of promises owed to employees had declined.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Tempting fate probably more on the actuarial table.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

An actuarial approach, dividing a portfolio by remaining life expectancy, can be used but introduces too much spending fluctuation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 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 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

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