fact
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fækt/
rhymes: -ækt
Forms: form: facts
Etymology: From Old French fact, from Latin factum (“an act, deed, feat, etc.”); also Medieval Latin for “state, condition, circumstance”; neuter of factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”). Old/Middle French later evolved it into faict and fait. Doublet of feat.
Senses: examples: text: In this story, the Gettysburg Address is a fact, but the rest is fiction.
text: The report is based on verified facts.
text: Let’s stick to the facts, not opinions.
text: She presented the facts in a clear, logical way.
text: establish the facts
text: hard facts
text: facts and figures
text: Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
glosses: Something actual as opposed to invented.
examples: text: Gravity is a fact, not a theory.
glosses: Something which is real.
examples: text: Let's look at the facts of the case before deciding.
glosses: Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.
examples: text: There is no doubting the fact that the Earth orbits the Sun.
glosses: An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of experts.
examples: text: The facts about space travel.
text: Addition facts include 2 + 2 = 4 and 3 + 4 = 7.
glosses: Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.
topics: computing
databases
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: An individual value or measurement at the lowest level of granularity in a data warehouse.
examples: text: After that Richard, the third of that name, king in fact only, but tyrant both in title and regiment[…]was[…]overthrown and slain at Bosworth Field; there succeeded in the kingdom[…]Henry the Seventh.
ref: 1622, Francis Bacon, The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh, page 1:
glosses: Action; the realm of action.
examples: text: He had become an accessory after the fact.
text: She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact, / Against that nation [...].
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: His friends still wrought Repreeves for him: And indeed his fact till now in the government of Lord Angelo, came not to an undoubtfull proofe.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 76, column 2:
text: 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.
ref: 1819, T. Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors:
topics: law
qualifier: obsolete except in set phrases
glosses: A wrongful or criminal deed.
examples: text: UUho when he ſhal embrace you in his arms
UUil tell how many thouſand men he ſlew.
And when you looke for amorous diſcourſe,
Will rattle foorth his facts of war and blood:
Too harſh a ſubiect for your daintie eares.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
text: When he who most excels in fact of arms,
ref: 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
glosses: A feat or meritorious deed.
Derived terms: accessary after the fact
accessary before the fact
accessory after the fact
accessory before the fact
after-the-fact
after the fact
alternative fact
antefact
anti-fact
as a matter of fact
attorney-in-fact
bad facts make bad law
before the fact
brute fact
brute-fact
conspiracy fact
contrary to fact
counterfact
face facts
face the facts
factbook
fact-check
fact check
fact checker
fact checking
fact-checking
factette
factfem
fact file
factfile
factfinder
fact-finder
fact-finding
fact-free
fact free
factful
facthood
factic
facticide
facticity
factify
faction
fact is
factish
fact is stranger than fiction
factive
factless
factlet
factness
fact of life
fact of the matter
factography
factoid
fact or fiction
fact-pattern
fact pattern
facts don't care about your feelings
fact sheet
facts on the ground
facts speak louder than words
fact table
factual
fact-value distinction
facty
finder of fact
finding of fact
for a fact
fun fact
genuine issue of material fact
in fact
in point of fact
Is that a fact?
judge of fact
malice in fact
material fact
matter-of-fact
matter of fact
misfact
nonfact
postfact
pseudofact
put facts on the ground
question of fact
science fact
science-fact
spit facts
spit straight facts
stylized fact
superfact
the fact that
them's the facts
trier of fact
unfact
unstylized fact
wordfact
Related terms: faction
factor
factorial
factory
factotum
fashion
value
belief