facts of life

noun

any aspect of human existence that must be acknowledged or regarded as unalterable: Old age is a fact of life.

Idioms

facts of life, the facts concerning sex, reproduction, and birth: to teach children the facts of life.

Origin:
1850–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To facts of life

Collins

World English Dictionary

facts of life

—*pl n*
	the facts of life the details of sexual behaviour and reproduction, esp as told to children

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10

Facts of life is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

facts of life pl.n.
The basic physiological functions involved in sex and reproduction. Often used with the.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Slang Dictionary

facts of life definition

n.
an explanation of human reproduction, especially as presented to a child. : No one ever explained the facts of life to me. I read books about it.
n.
the truth about life's difficulties. : You had better face up to the facts of life and get a job.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

facts of life

Knowledge of sexual reproduction, as in Some people feel that the facts of life should not be taught in school. [Late 1800s] Also see birds and the bees.

Matching Quote

"The old guard may grumble and occasionally sue, but in a society where Portnoy's Complaint is a record-breaking best- seller sexual permissiveness is no longer an issue. The real resistance now is to an art which forces its audience to recognize and accept imaginatively, in their nerve-ends, not the facts of life but the facts of death and violence: absurd, random, gratuitous, unjustified, and inescapably part of the society we have created."

-A. Alvarez

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Idioms & Phrases

birds and the bees

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