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fact Definition

fact (fakt)

noun

  1. a deed; act: now esp. in the sense of “a criminal deed” in the phrases after the fact and before the fact an accessory after the fact
  2. a thing that has actually happened or that is really true; thing that has been or is
  3. the state of things as they are; reality; actuality; truth fact as distinct from fancy
  4. something said to have occurred or supposed to be true to check the accuracy of one's facts
  5. Law an actual or alleged incident or condition, as distinguished from its legal consequence

Etymology: L factum, that which is done, deed, fact, neut. pp. of facere, do

fact Idioms

as a matter of fact

in reality; really; actually

the facts of life

☆
  1. basic information about sexual reproduction
  2. the harsh, unpleasant facts about a situation in life
fact Synonyms

fact

n.

  1. A reliable generality

    reality, actuality, certainty, truth, substantiality, palpability, experience, matter, state of things, truth of the matter, the case, not an illusion, fait accompli (French), what really happened, something concrete, what is the case, matter of fact, hard evidence, hard fact, nuda veritas (Latin), verity, naked truth, gospel, certitude, scripture, law, solidity, permanence, basis, physical reality, existence, corporeal existence, state of being, fact of life, what's what*, straight dope*, bottom line*; see also facts.

    Antonyms fancy*, fiction*, imagination. *

  2. An individual reality

    circumstance, detail, factor, particular, case, consideration, datum, evidence, point, event, action, deed, happening, occurrence, creation, manifestation, being, entity, experience, affair, act, episode, performance, proceeding, phenomenon, incident, thing done, adventure, transaction, organism, construction, truism, truth, plain fact, accomplishment, accomplished fact, fait accompli (French).

    Antonyms error*, illusion*, untruth.

as a matter of fact

in reality, in fact, actually, in point of fact; see really 1.

fact Law Definition

n

Something that exists or has happened; an irreducible element of real existence or occurrence.
collateral fact
A fact that is not central to the main issue or controversy.
evidentiary fact
A fact that tends to prove, or is a necessary prerequisite for the proof of, another fact.
jurisdictional fact. 
Such a fact as must exist before a court will exercise jurisdiction over a matter; for example, in a diversity case in federal court, that the parties are citizens of different states and that the amount in controversy is above a threshold level.
probative fact
See evidentiary fact.
ultimate fact
An essential fact, arrived at by inference from the evidence and testimony, that causes the final determination or conclusion of law.
fact Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • ignore: It is quite unrealistic now to ignore these facts.
  • reflect: Rather, it is intended to reflect the fact that judgment is required when assessing whether land is MMHD or ISIG.
  • highlight: Once again the real threat of fraud on the Internet has highlighted the fact that consumers fear going on line.
  • hide: Still, even all the bias can't hide the fact that the Tories are heading for another very heavy defeat.
  • like: I also particularly liked the fact that you only charged 50p p&p per bag.
  • mention: We won't mention the fact that I was 1 1/2 hours late for my last outing ( stop laughing Andy ).

Converse of subject

  • hamper: Work was hampered by the basic fact that the horse chestnuts were poor quality material from which to produce acetone.
  • compound: That they were East European was compounded by the fact that Russia was communist and led by Joseph Stalin.
  • reinforce: And that idea is reinforced by the fact that three of the known MCPH proteins are found in the centrosome during cell division.

Adjective modifier

  • mere: The mere fact that they may be produced in a new way is no reason for any radical change in the policy process.
  • sad: The sad fact is that the American hostages in Iraq are forgotten casualties of war.
  • actual: All of which brings me to the final point ( well, three in actual fact ).
  • historical: The use of historical fact as a springboard for fiction is not a new one.
  • interesting: Some interesting facts emerge from the early records of this church.
  • fascinating: You can find fascinating facts on every page - eg.

Modifies a noun

  • sheet: Back Pain fact sheet Back pain of one kind or another affects millions of people in the UK each year.

Preposition: of

  • matter: The simple fact of the matter is that this witness had no idea what they were talking about.
  • case: The key facts of the case are as follows.
  • life: But erosion has been a fact of life in those parts for hundreds of years and nobody can predict such things accurately.

Preposition: from

  • fiction: Sources will need to be carefully checked in an attempt to sort out fact from fiction!
fact Quotes

Only a fact could be so dreamlike.

—Rich, Adrienne Cecile

The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability.We say that a sentence isfactually significant to any given person, if, and only if, he knows how to 44 verify the proposition which it purports to express ö that is, if he knows what observations would lead him, under certain conditions, to accept the proposition as being true, or reject it as being false.

—Ayer, SirAlfred Jules

It isthespirit of theageto believethat any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true.

—Vidal, Gore originally Eugene Luther Vidal,Jr

   The great tragedy of Scienceöthe slaying of a beautiful hypothesis byan ugly fact.

—Huxley,T(homas) H(enry)

You can't figure him out like a fact, because to Reagan themainfact was avision† He came fromtheheartland of the country, where people could be down-to-earth yet feel that the sky is the limitönot ashamed of, or cynical about, the American dream.

—Shultz, George P(ratt)

   L'on a beau se cacher a'   soi-me"  me, l'on aime toujours. We vainly conceal from ourselves the fact that we are always in love.

—Pascal, Blaise

When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact or existence? No.Commit itthen tothe flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

—Humboldt, Alexander, Baron von

Science is the knowledge of consequences and the dependence of one fact upon another.

—Hobbes,Thomas

You will find that the truth is often unpopular and the contest between agreeable fancy and disagreeable fact is unequal. For, in the vernacular, we Americans are suckers for good news.

—Stevenson, Adlai E(wing)

   It is the man of science, eager to have his every opinion regenerated, his every idea rationalized, by drinking at the fountain of fact, and devoting all the energies of his life to the cult of truth, not as he understands it, but as he does not yet understand it, that ought properly to be called a philosopher.

—Pierce, C(harles) S(aunders)

When every fact, every present or past phenomenon of [the] universe, every phase of present or past lifetherein, has been examined, classified, and coordinatedwith the rest, thenthemissionof sciencewill be completed.What isthisbut saying thatthetaskof science canneverend till man ceases to be, till history is no longer made, and development itself ceases?

—Pearson, Karl

C'est de la'   que vient tout le mal: Dieu est un homme. All evil comes from this fact: God is a man.

—Giraudoux, (Hippolyte) Jean

In writing biography, fact and fiction shouldn't be mixed. And if theyare, the fiction parts should be printed in red ink, the fact parts in black ink.

—Bowen, Catherine Shober ne¤  e Drinker

Fact is stranger than fiction.You see people walking down the street that would never be allowed on television.You have to tone it down.

—Gervais, Ricky

The trouble with our people is as soon as they got out of slavery they didn't want to give the white man nothing else.But the fact is, you got to give 'em something. Either your money, your land, your woman or your ass.

—Walker, Alice Malsenior

The product oftheartist hasbecome less importantthan the fact of the artist.We wish to absorb this person.We wish to devour someone who has experienced the tragic.Inour society thisperson ismuchmore important than anything he might create.

—Mamet, David Alan

The news of the dayas it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley of fact, propaganda, rumor, suspicion, clues, hopes, and fears, and the task of selecting and ordering that news is one of the truly sacred and priestly offices in a democracy. For the newspaper isinall literalnessthebibleofdemocracy, the book out of which a people determines its conduct.

—Lippmann,Walter

Technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power†but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.

—Paz, Octavio

To be an American is an ideal, whileto be a Frenchman is a fact.

—Friedrich, Carl J(oachim)

The grim fact, however, is that we prepare for war like precocious giants and for peace like retarded pygmies.

—Pearson, Lester Bowles

Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.

—Fuller, R(ichard) Buckminster

It is, I think, an indisputable fact that Americans are, as Americans, themost self-conscious people inthe world, and themost addictedtothebeliefthattheothernations of the earth are in a conspiracy to under value them.

—James, Henry

This world is bad enough maybe; We do not comprehend it; But in one fact can all agree God won't, and we can't mend it.

—Clough, Arthur Hugh

Your mind now, moldering like wedding-cake, heavy with useless experience, rich with suspicion, rumour, fantasy, crumbling to pieces under the knife-edge of mere fact. In the prime of your life.

—Rich, Adrienne Cecile

Next tobeing right inthis world, thebest of all things isto be clearly and definitely wrong. If you go buzzing about between right and wrong, vibrating and fluctuating, you come out nowhere; but if you are absolutelyand thoroughlyand persistently wrong you must, some of these days, have the extreme good fortune of knocking yourheadagainstafact, andthat setsyouallstraightagain.

—Huxley,T(homas) H(enry)

It is well said, in every sense, that a man's religion is the chief fact with regard to him.

—Carlyle,Thomas

All theobjects of humanreasonorenquiry maynaturally be divided into two kinds, to wit, Relations of Ideas, and Matters of Fact.

—Humboldt, Alexander, Baron von

The most striking of all the impressions that I have formed since I left London a month ago is of the strength of African national consciousness. In different places it may take different forms, but it is happening everywhere. The wind of change is blowing through this continent.Whether we like it or not, the growth of national consciousness is a political fact.

—Stockton

If we knew all the laws of Nature, we should need only one fact, or the description of one actual phenomenon, to infer all the particular results at that point. Now we know onlya few laws, and our result is vitiated, not, of course, byany confusion or irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation. Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect; but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but reallyconcurring, laws, which Thoreau we have not detected, is still more wonderful. The particular laws are as our points of view, as, to the traveler, a mountain outline varies with every step, and it has an infinite number of profiles, though absolutely but one form. Even when cleft or bored through it is not comprehended in its entireness.

—Thoreau, Henry David

   Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

—Ruskin,John

Dreams have only the pigmentation of fact.

—Barnes, Djuna

Science, at bottom, is really anti-intellectual. It always distrusts pure reason, and demands the production of objective fact.

—Mencken, H(enry) L(ouis)

Negative Capability; that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.

—Keats,John

   Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatsoever abysses Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

—Huxley,T(homas) H(enry)

I take to be the central fact to man born in America† I spell it large because it comes large here. Large and without mercy.

—Olson, Charles

The fact is, we are much more afraid of life than our ancestors, and cannot find it inourhearts either tomarry or not tomarry.Marriage isterrifying, but so is a cold and forlorn old age.

—Stevenson, Robert Louis

   That would have been a nice place, inside an idea, but it wasn't a place to live. It was necessary to live where the idea and the fact collided.

—McIlvanney,William Angus

Quite as many false ideas prevail as to woman's true position in the home as to her status elsewhere. Womanhood is the great fact in her life; wifehood and motherhood are but incidental relations.

—Stanton, Elizabeth ne¤  e  Cady