fact

English Online Dictionary. What means fact‎? What does fact mean?

English

Etymology

From Latin factum (“a deed, act, exploit; in Medieval Latin also state, condition, circumstance”), neuter of factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

fact (plural facts)

1. (archaic) Action; the realm of action.
2. (law, obsolete except in set phrases) A wrongful or criminal deed.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:

     She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact, / Against that nation [...].

   • 1819, T. Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors

     Gentlemen of the Jury, I think I need say but little on this matter: They all confess the fact of which they stand indicted. Some of them were old offenders, and all of them were proved to be at the taking of capt. Manwareing's sloop, and all took their shares: so that I think the fact is very fully and clearly proved upon them.

3. (obsolete) A feat or meritorious deed.
4. An honest observation.
5. Something actual as opposed to invented.
6. Something which is real.

   Gravity is a fact, not a theory.

7. Something which has become real.

8. Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.

9. An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of experts.

10. Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.

Antonyms

• (Something actual): fiction

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• value
• opinion
• belief

References

• fact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• fact in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• "Conway: 'Alternative Facts'" Merriam-Webster's Trend Watch Merriam-Webster. 2017.

Interjection

fact

1. Used before making a statement to introduce it as a trustworthy one.

Anagrams

• acft