Glossary
Actuary Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential actuary terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key actuary vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in actuary training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Assumption
- Estimate used in models.
- CAS
- Casualty Actuarial Society.
- Credibility
- Weight given to data.
- Exposure
- Units of risk.
- Frequency
- How often claims occur.
- IBNR
- Incurred but not reported claims.
- Loss ratio
- Claims compared to premiums.
- Mortality table
- Death rates by age.
- Pension valuation
- Measuring pension obligations.
- Price of insurance.
- Present value
- Value today of future money.
- Pricing
- Setting rates.
- Reserve
- Money set aside for future claims.
- Severity
- Size of claims.
- SOA
- Society of Actuaries.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Actuary practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Actuary training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.