fact

From Latin factum (“a deed, act, exploit; in Medieval Latin also state, condition, circumstance”), neuter of factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

• IPA^(key): /fækt/

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• Rhymes: -ækt

fact (plural facts)

1. (archaic) Action; the realm of action.
   • 1622, Francis Bacon, The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh, page 1:

     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.

2. (law, obsolete except in set phrases) A wrongful or criminal deed.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:

     She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact, / Against that nation [...].

   • 1819, T. Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors

     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.

   He had become an accessory after the fact.

3. (obsolete) A feat or meritorious deed.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     When he who most excels in fact of arms,

4. An honest observation.
5. Something actual as opposed to invented.

   In this story, the Gettysburg Address is a fact, but the rest is fiction.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     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.

6. Something which is real.

   Gravity is a fact, not a theory.

7. Something which has become real.

   The promise of television became a fact in the 1920s.

8. Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.

   Let's look at the facts of the case before deciding.

9. An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of experts.

   There is no doubting the fact that the Earth orbits the Sun.

10. Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.

    The facts about space travel.

11. (databases) An individual value or measurement at the lowest level of granularity in a data warehouse.

• (Something actual): fiction

• value
• opinion
• belief

• fact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fact in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "Conway: 'Alternative Facts'" Merriam-Webster's Trend Watch Merriam-Webster. 2017.

fact

1. Used before making a statement to introduce it as a trustworthy one.

• acft