Link Centre Dictionary

fact

UK/fækt/ US/ˈfækt/ very common uk us

noun

1.

a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred

  • “first you must collect all the facts of the case”
2.

a statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened

  • “he supported his argument with an impressive array of facts”
3.

an event known to have happened or something known to have existed

  • “your fears have no basis in fact”
  • “how much of the story is fact and how much fiction is hard to tell”
4.

a concept whose truth can be proved

  • “scientific hypotheses are not facts”

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • accessary after the fact
  • accessary before the fact
  • accessory after the fact
  • accessory before the fact
  • after the fact
  • alternative fact
  • as a matter of fact
  • bad facts make bad law

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.