This paper deals with a very specific theoretical and methodological framework which draws on the tradition of semic analysis and concerns the problem of the virtual and actual within the linguistic sign. F. Rastier (1987) defines virtualization as “neutralization of a seme in context“ , and actualization as “an interpretive operation which identifies or constructs a seme in context“, whereas Ch. Cusimano (2008) and (2012) pursues the problems related to the virtualization and actualization of the linguistic sign from the Saussurian signified to Guillaume's postulate of effective discourse and J. Picoche's potent word, which can be found in the structure of the linguistic sign in its pre-use. We have illustrated the problem of the actual and virtual with the example of two adjectives, the French sec and Croatian suh (dry). The adjectives have been analyzed by adopting the so-called differential approach to lexical meaning through a semic analysis. The aim of our analysis is to isloate the semic features of the adjectival lexemes, to see the extent to which they coincide in the two languages, as well as whether there is some stable structure, an element of the meaning which acts from the position of the archisememe. Seme, since it is actualized in context, in fact is neither distinctive nor pertinent but variable, depending on the socio-cultural group to which speakers belong. Inherent semes are part of the functional (operative) system of language and actually define the lexeme, while afferent are those semes which arise from the codification of the system through more or less socially conditioned norms. In contrast to inherent, afferent semes belong to different taxemes, which are actualized in context. Cusimano (2008: 41-42) suggests that contextual and situational variations should be attributed to the semic features which he calls ASFs, (Fr. traits semiques d'application, TSA). The ASFs are not an integral part of the sememe which is considered to be the core of the signified, although they influence it, and therefore do not have invariant character. Semes, these minimal units contained in the sememe, in contrast to the ASFs, are imbued with invariants. The ASFs are shown as a result of a previous use which determines whether or not and how the options of polysemous lexemes will be selected, and they are therefore able to represent the image (Fr. ideelle) of semantic information and identify it as a pertinent unit of meaning. According to this model, the ASFs function as the data which in cognitive linguistics are called encyclopaedic information organized in semantic information on the basis of prototypicality, and which are responsible for polysemy. ASFs are as virtual potential placed within the configuration of a minimal semantic framework. They are, as an integral part of the signified, necessary information in the structure of an onomasiologically perceived sememe. The first step in the analysis of the above adjectives was to identify the meaning of the lexeme in context. Then, in the cluster of (all) meanings, we isolated the semic features. We reduced the inherent and afferent semes to the elements of semic intersection of different acceptance of the polysemous lexeme. The semic intersection is evidently the pertinent seme, the one which acts from the position of the archisememe (comp. B. Pottier, 1974: 68). In this case, based on the senses presented in the dictionaries, the archisememe is / lack/. In the example of suh / sec from the sememe in pre-usage, different ASFs result, which in different contexts are lexicalized in the polysemous adjective suh, ie. sec. At each of these different levels there is also a paradigmatic lexeme or a synonym or a synonymous expression of the adjective suh such as skinny, arid, desert-, rigid, insensible ie. for sec maigre, aride, desertique, rigide, insensible, etc. Applying the mathematical model of polysemy, Jacquet, Venent, Victorri (2005) identified exactly these paradigmatic lexemes within the so-called semantic space (Fr. espace semantique) of the polysemous unit sec. We conclude that there is a kind of virtuality in the potent word that can explain the use and which can justify the pragmatic pertinence such as virtual and non-meaningful, which are actualized depending on the context thanks to the action of the particles such as ASFs. We can consequently assume that there is an adjective structure inherent to language. However, a particular problem in this structure arises at the third level of semic features, and this is /personification/ which refers to the metaphorical, referential sense. This incompability belongs to the level above taxemes, ie. the level of domains or dimensions. There is therefore a kind of compatibility, but at the same time also a kind of semantic incompatibility. In fact, some of the ASFs are activated and others are virtualized at the moment of the transition from the actual domain to the domain of virtual. A metaphorical transfer occurs due to „delits referentiels“ (Kleiber 1994: 205) which occur at the transition from one class to another. At the level of personification we, in actuality, realize the fundamental difference in the distribution of the use of the adjective suh (dry) in both languages, since the metaphorical transition is often a result of the codification of social conventions, which are not necessarily the same in the two compared systems. Thus e.g rester sec a un examen or biti od suhog zlata do not have an equivalent in the other system, although in the examples from both languages, there is a denotation which we have previously defined as the potent word /lack/. This denotation is a stable structure and is activated according to need by means of semic features.