What does Merriam-Webster mean by "being such in practice or effect"?

I was looking at the definition of "practical" and found a phrase that I couldn't understand.

The phrase that I'm talking about is

being such in practice or effect

And also, according to the information on the same page, this definition of "practical" is a synonym of the word "virtual". But I couldn't any definition of "virtual" that is same as the definition of "practical" that I was talking about earlier.

Solution 1:

The such refers to the noun that practical modifies. The word such here cannot be referring to a previous definition, because in the definition of virtual, a very similar definition appears as the first definition of the word.

One definition of practical in Merriam-Webster is:

1 b: being such in practice or effect : VIRTUAL
a practical failure.

So, calling something a practical failure would mean that it was a failure in practice (although maybe it was a success in theory or in trial uses).

The same use of such appears in their definition of virtual:

1: being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted
a virtual dictator

So a virtual dictator is somebody who is effectively a dictator, even though they do not admit they are one.