fact definition | Dictionary.com

fact

[fakt]

–noun

1.	something that actually exists; reality; truth: Your fears have no basis in fact.

2.	something known to exist or to have happened: Space travel is now a fact.

3.	a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true: Scientists gather facts about plant growth.

4.	something said to be true or supposed to have happened: The facts given by the witness are highly questionable.

5.	Law. Often, facts. an actual or alleged event or circumstance, as distinguished from its legal effect or consequence. Compare question of fact, question of law.

—Idioms

6.	after the fact, Law. after the commission of a crime: an accessory after the fact.

7.	before the fact, Law. prior to the commission of a crime: an accessory before the fact.

8.	in fact, actually; really; indeed: In fact, it was a wonder that anyone survived.

Origin:
1530–40; < L factum something done, deed, n. use of neut. of factus done, ptp. of facere to do ¹

Related forms:

factful, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To fact

fact (fākt)

Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact; a blur of fact and fancy.
1. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed: Genetic engineering is now a fact. That Chaucer was a real person is an undisputed fact.
2. A real occurrence; an event: had to prove the facts of the case.
3. Something believed to be true or real: a document laced with mistaken facts.
A thing that has been done, especially a crime: an accessory before the fact.
Law The aspect of a case at law comprising events determined by evidence: The jury made a finding of fact.

[Latin factum, deed, from neuter past participle of facere, to do; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: Fact has a long history of usage in the sense "allegation of fact," as in "This tract was distributed to thousands of American teachers, but the facts and the reasoning are wrong" (Albert Shanker). This practice has led to the introduction of the phrases true facts and real facts, as in The true facts of the case may never be known. These usages may occasion qualms among critics who insist that facts can only be true, but the usages are often useful for emphasis.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Fact

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

1. A doing, making, or preparing. [Obs.]

A project for the fact and vending Of a new kind of fucus, paint for ladies. --B. Jonson.

2. An effect produced or achieved; anything done or that comes to pass; an act; an event; a circumstance.

What might instigate him to this devilish fact, I am not able to conjecture. --Evelyn.

He who most excels in fact of arms. --Milton.

3. Reality; actuality; truth; as, he, in fact, excelled all the rest; the fact is, he was beaten.

4. 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.

I do not grant the fact. --De Foe.

This reasoning is founded upon a fact which is not true. --Roger Long.

Note: TheTerm fact has in jurisprudence peculiar uses in contrast with low; as, attorney at low, and attorney in fact; issue in low, and issue in fact. There is also a grand distinction between low and fact with reference to the province of the judge and that of the jury, the latter generally determining the fact, the former the low. --Burrill Bouvier.

Accessary before, or 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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : fact

Spanish: hecho,

German: die Tatsache,

Japanese: 事実

More Translations »

fact

1539, "action," especially "evil deed," from L. factum "event, occurrence," lit. "thing done," from neut. pp. of facere "to do" (see factitious). Usual modern sense of "thing known to be true" appeared 1632, from notion of "something that has actually occurred." Facts of life "harsh realities" is from 1854; specific sense of "human sexual functions" first recorded 1913. Factoid is from 1973, first explained, if not coined, by Norman Mailer.

"Factoids ... that is, facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority." [N. Mailer, "Marilyn," 1973]

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: fact
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin factum deed, real happening, something done, from neuter of factus, past participle of facere to do, make
1 : something that has actual existence : a matter of objective reality
2 : any of the circumstances of a case that exist or are alleged to exist in reality : a thing whose actual occurrence or existence is to be determined by the evidence presented at trial —see also finding of fact at FINDING, JUDICIAL NOTICE question of fact at QUESTION, TRIER OF FACT —compare LAW, OPINION

adjudicative fact
: a fact particularly related to the parties to an esp. administrative proceeding —compare LEGISLATIVE FACT in this entry

collateral fact
: a fact that has no direct relation to or immediate bearing on the case or matter in question —compare MATERIAL FACT in this entry

constitutional fact
: a fact that relates to the determination of a constitutional issue (as violation of a constitutional right) —used esp. of administrative findings of fact

evidentiary fact
: a fact that is part of the situation from which a case arises and that is established by testimony or other evidence called also mediate fact predicate fact —compare ULTIMATE FACT in this entry

legislative fact
: a fact of general social, economic, or scientific relevance that does not change from case to case —compare ADJUDICATIVE FACT in this entry

material fact
: a fact that affects decision making: as a : a fact upon which the outcome of all or part of a lawsuit depends b : a fact that would influence a reasonable person under the circumstances in making an investment decision (as in purchasing a security or voting for a corporate officer or action)

mediate fact
: EVIDENTIARY FACT in this entry

predicate fact
: EVIDENTIARY FACT in this entry

ul·ti·mate fact
/'&l-ti-m&t-/
: a conclusion of law or esp. mixed fact and law that is necessary to the determination of issues in a case and that is established by evidentiary facts —compare EVIDENTIARY FACT in this entry—in fact : as a factual matter : established by fact rather than as a matter of law

FACT
Fully Automated Compiling Technique

fact artificial intelligence, programming
The kind of clause used in logic programming which has no subgoals and so is always true (always succeeds). E.g.
wet(water). male(denis).
This is in contrast to a rule which only succeeds if all its subgoals do. Rules usually contain logic variables, facts rarely do, except for oddities like "equal(X,X).".
(1996-10-20)

fact

In addition to the idiom beginning with fact, also see after the fact; in fact; is that a fact; matter of fact.

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