fact
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
fact/fakt/
▶noun a thing that is indisputably the case.
■ (facts) information used as evidence or as part of a report.
■ chiefly Law the truth about events as opposed to interpretation.
– phrases
before (or after) the fact Law before (or after) the committing of a crime.
a fact of life something that must be accepted, even if unpalatable.
the facts of life information about sexual matters.
in (point of) fact in reality.
before (or after) the fact Law before (or after) the committing of a crime.
a fact of life something that must be accepted, even if unpalatable.
the facts of life information about sexual matters.
in (point of) fact in reality.
– origin C15 (orig. meaning ‘an act’, later ‘a crime’, surviving in the phr. before (or after) the fact): from L. factum, neut. past part. of facere ‘do’.
'fact' also found in these Oxford entries:
abode
- absit omen
- abstinence
- achievement
- acknowledgement
- acquaintance
- actual
- actually
- addiction
- admission
- admittance
- advise
- affirmative
- although
- announce
- assert
- assertion
- atomicity
- attainment
- aver
- aware
- baseless
- beg
- benefit
- calm
- capture
- certainty
- certificate
- cessation
- Christian name
- circumstance
- clincher
- clue
- cogito
- cohesion
- come
- company
- compliance
- complicity
- concomitance
- consciousness
- consideration
- contingent
- contribute
- converse
- court of record
- cover
- crisp
- curiosity
- currency
