Fact

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Fact, n. [L. factum, fr. facere to make or do. Cf. Feat, Affair, Benefit, Defect, Fashion, and -fy.].

•  A doing, making, or preparing.  [1913 Webster]

  "A project for the fact and vending
  Of a new kind of fucus, paint for ladies."  [1913 Webster]
•  An effect produced or achieved; anything done or that comes to pass; an act; an event; a circumstance.  [1913 Webster]

  "What might instigate him to this devilish fact, I am not able to conjecture."  [1913 Webster]

  "He who most excels in fact of arms."  [1913 Webster]
•  Reality; actuality; truth; as, he, in fact, excelled all the rest; the fact is, he was beaten.  [1913 Webster]
•  The assertion or statement of a thing done or existing; sometimes, even when false, improperly put, by a transfer of meaning, for the thing done, or supposed to be done; a thing supposed or asserted to be done; as, history abounds with false facts.  [1913 Webster]

  " The term fact has in jurisprudence peculiar uses in contrast with law; as, attorney at law, and attorney in fact; issue in law, and issue in fact. There is also a grand distinction between law and fact with reference to the province of the judge and that of the jury, the latter generally determining the fact, the former the law."  Burrill Bouvier.  [1913 Webster]

  "I do not grant the fact."  [1913 Webster]

  "This reasoning is founded upon a fact which is not true."  [1913 Webster]

Accessary before the fact, or Accessary after the fact. See under Accessary. -- Matter of fact, an actual occurrence; a verity; used adjectively: of or pertaining to facts; prosaic; unimaginative; as, a matter-of-fact narration.

Syn. -- Act; deed; performance; event; incident; occurrence; circumstance.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Fact, n.
1 a thing that is known to have occurred, to exist, or to be true.
2 a datum of experience (often foll. by an explanatory clause or phrase : the fact that fire burns; the fact of my having seen them).
3 (usu. in pl.) an item of verified information; a piece of evidence.
4 truth, reality.
5 a thing assumed as the basis for argument or inference.

Idiom

before (or after) the fact before (or after) the committing of a crime. a fact of life something that must be accepted. facts and figures precise details. fact-sheet a paper setting out relevant information. the facts of life information about sexual functions and practices. in (or in point of) fact
1 in reality; as a matter of fact.
2 (in summarizing) in short.

Etymology

L factum f. facere do

THESAURUS

Fact

absolute fact, accepted fact, accomplishment, act, actual fact, actuality, actually, admitted fact, adventure, article, aspect, authenticity, axiom, bald fact, bare fact, basis for belief, body of evidence, brutal fact, case, certainty, chain of evidence, circumstance, clue, cold fact, conceded fact, count, data, datum, deed, demonstrable fact, detail, details, documentation, element, empirical fact, episode, established fact, eternal verities, event, evidence, exhibit, experience, facet, fact of experience, factor, factors, facts, factually, fait accompli, genuineness, given fact, good sooth, grounds, grounds for belief, hap, happening, happenstance, hard fact, historical truth, historicity, in fact, in reality, in truth, incident, incidental, indeed, indication, indisputable fact, inescapable fact, information, instance, item, item of evidence, items, low-down, manifestation, mark, material grounds, matter, matter of fact, minor detail, minutia, minutiae, muniments, mute witness, naked fact, not guesswork, not opinion, observable, occasion, occurrence, particular, particulars, phenomenon, piece of evidence, plain, point, points, positive fact, postulate, premises, proof, provable fact, reality, really, reason to believe, regard, relevant fact, respect, salient fact, self-evident fact, sign, significant fact, simple fact, sober fact, sooth, stubborn fact, symptom, the case, the nitty-gritty, the score, the true, thing, to be sure, token, trueness, truly, truth, truthfully, truthfulness, turn of events, ultimate truth, undeniable fact, unerroneousness, unfallaciousness, unfalseness, veracity, verity, very truth, well-known fact

ROGET THESAURUS

Fact

Existence

N existence, being, entity, ens, esse, subsistence, reality, actuality, positiveness, fact, matter of fact, sober reality, truth, actual existence, presence, coexistence, stubborn fact, hard fact, not a dream, no joke, center of life, essence, inmost nature, inner reality, vital principle, ontology, existing, existent, under the sun, in existence, extant, afloat, afoot, on foot, current, prevalent, undestroyed, real, actual, positive, absolute, true, substantial, substantive, self-existing, self-existent, essential, well-founded, well-grounded, unideal, unimagined, not potential, authentic, actually, in fact, in point of fact, in reality, indeed, de facto, ipso facto, ens rationis, ergo sum cogito, thinkest thou existence doth depend on time?.

Eventuality

N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.

Certainty

N certainty, necessity, certitude, surety, assurance, dead certainty, moral certainty, infallibleness, infallibility, reliability, indubitableness, inevitableness, unquestionableness, gospel, scripture, church, pope, court of final appeal, res judicata, ultimatum positiveness, dogmatism, dogmatist, dogmatizer, doctrinaire, bigot, opinionist, Sir Oracle, ipse dixit, fact, positive fact, matter of fact, fait accompli, certain, sure, assured, solid, well-founded, unqualified, absolute, positive, determinate, definite, clear, unequivocal, categorical, unmistakable, decisive, decided, ascertained, inevitable, unavoidable, avoidless, ineluctable, unerring, infallible, unchangeable, to be depended on, trustworthy, reliable, bound, unimpeachable, undeniable, unquestionable, indisputable, incontestable, incontrovertible, indubitable, irrefutable, conclusive, without power of appeal, indubious, without doubt, beyond a doubt, without a shade or shadow of doubt, without question, beyond question, past dispute, clear as day, beyond all question, beyond all dispute, undoubted, uncontested, unquestioned, undisputed, questionless, doubtless, authoritative, authentic, official, sure as fate, sure as death and taxes, sure as a gun, evident, self-evident, axiomatic, clear, clear as day, clear as the sun at noonday, certainly, for certain, certes, sure, no doubt, doubtless, and no mistake, flagrante delicto, sure enough, to be sure, of course, as a matter of course, a coup sur, to a certainty, in truth, at any rate, at all events, without fail, coute que coute, coute qu'il coute, whatever may happen, if the worst come to the worst, come what may, happen what may, come what will, sink or swim, rain or shine, cela va sans dire, there is no question, no question, not a shadow of doubt, there is not a shadow of doubt, the die is cast, facts are stubborn things.

Truth

N truth, fact, reality, plain fact, plain matter of fact, nature, truth, verity, gospel, gospel truth, God's honest truth, orthodoxy, authenticity, veracity, correctness, correctitude, accuracy, exactitude, exactness, preciseness, precision, delicacy, rigor, mathematical precision, punctuality, clockwork precision, conformity to rule, nicety, orthology, ipsissima verba, realism, plain truth, honest truth, sober truth, naked truth, unalloyed truth, unqualified truth, stern truth, exact truth, intrinsic truth, nuda veritas, the very thing, not an illusion, real Simon Pure, unvarnished tale, unvarnished truth, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, just the thing, real, actual, veritable, true, right, correct, certain, substantially true, categorically true, definitively true, true to the letter, true as gospel, unimpeachable, veracious, unreconfuted, unconfuted, unideal, unimagined, realistic, exact, accurate, definite, precise, well-defined, just, just so, so, strict, severe, close, literal, rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, religiously exact, punctual, mathematical, scientific, faithful, constant, unerring, curious, particular, nice, delicate, fine, clean-cut, clear-cut, verified, empirically true, experimentally verified, substantiated, proven (demonstrated), rigorously true, unquestionably true, true by definition, genuine, authentic, legitimate, orthodox, official, ex officio, pure, natural, sound, sterling, unsophisticated, unadulterated, unvarnished, unalloyed, uncolored, in its true colors, pukka, well-grounded, well founded, solid, substantial, tangible, valid, undistorted, undisguised, unaffected, unexaggerated, unromantic, unflattering, truly, verily, indeed, really, in reality, with truth, certainly, actually, in effect, exactly, ad amussim, verbatim, verbatim et literatim, word for word, literally, literatim, totidem vervis, sic, to the letter, chapter and verse, ipsissimis verbis, ad unguem, to an inch, to a nicety, to a hair, to a tittle, to a turn, to a T, au pied de la lettre, neither more nor less, in every respect, in all respects, sous tous les rapports, at any rate, at all events, strictly speaking, the truth is, the fact is, rem acu tetigisti, en suivant la verite, ex facto jus oritur, la verita e figlia del empo, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, crazy people and children tell the truth, nihil est veritatis luce dulcius, veritas nunquam perit, veritatem dies aperit, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.