Aviation terminology, in my understanding of it, makes a useful distinction between something being "selected" or "commanded" and "indicated."
For example, if I flip the lever for landing gear from "up" to "down," I've "selected" landing gear down or "commanded" it to be down. This doesn't, of course, mean that the gear is actually down and locked into position so that it's in a suitable state for landing.
Thus there will often be a light or other indicator connected to sensors that determines through means other than the lever position that the landing gear is in the desired state; when this light goes on (or is the correct colour or whatever) it's said that the gear is "indicated" down, giving me some confirmation that the command has been correctly executed.
This, too, doesn't mean that the landing gear actually is in the commanded state; there could be an error or malfunction in the system such that the landing gear is indicated in that state but is not, or vice versa.
There is surely a third word used to say what the true state is (even if this state may not be easily detectable by the pilots). What is this word?
(If I've got my terminology wrong here, or there are multiple terms used for these things, please correct me in your answer.)