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What is "fact"

Crossword clues for fact

fact
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
fact
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a sad fact
▪ It’s a sad fact that a significant amount of crime is committed by young people.
actual fact (=really)
▪ In actual fact, there is little evidence to support the allegations.
an accessory before/after the fact (=someone who helps a criminal before or after the crime)
an established fact (=a piece of information that has been tested and shown to be true)
▪ It is an established fact that 1 in 10 undergraduates leave university in their first year.
basic facts
▪ You should start by giving the basic facts.
bemoaning the fact that
▪ He was bemoaning the fact that lawyers charge so much.
betrayed the fact that
▪ The crumpled sheets betrayed the fact that someone had been sleeping there.
conceal the fact that
▪ She tried to conceal the fact that she was pregnant.
deny a fact
▪ You can’t deny the fact that we made a mistake.
despite the fact (that)
▪ She went to Spain despite the fact that her doctor had told her to rest.
disguise the fact (that)
▪ There’s no disguising the fact that business is bad.
fact of life
▪ Mass unemployment seems to be a fact of life nowadays.
fact sheet
have no basis in fact (=be not true)
▪ Many of these rumours have no basis in fact.
hide the fact
▪ He took off his ring to hide the fact that he was married.
ignore the fact
▪ You can’t ignore the fact that many criminals never go to prison.
in spite of the fact that
▪ Kelly loved her husband in spite of the fact that he drank too much.
irrefutable evidence/proof/facts
▪ irrefutable proof of his innocence
lamented the fact that
▪ She lamented the fact that manufacturers did not produce small packs for single-person households.
lies in the fact that
▪ The strength of the book lies in the fact that the material is from classroom experience.
obscured the fact
▪ Recent successes have obscured the fact that the company is still in trouble.
overlook the fact that
▪ Nobody could overlook the fact that box office sales were down.
resented the fact that
▪ Paul resented the fact that Carol didn’t trust him.
resigned to the fact that
▪ Sam was resigned to the fact that he would never be promoted.
stress a fact
▪ Medicines usually stress the fact that you must not exceed the stated dose.
The fact remains that
▪ The fact remains that racism is still a considerable problem.
The mere fact
▪ The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign.
The plain fact is
▪ The plain fact is people still buy books.
the very fact that
▪ The very fact that this is their second home means that they are well-off.
told...the facts of life
▪ Mum told me the facts of life when I was twelve.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
mere
▪ The mere fact he had been invited to the eight-man special event represented progress.
▪ The mere fact that they are willing to undertake these repairs proves that they fear us.
▪ The mere fact of his suspicions concerning Tammuz dictated he must at least inspect who came calling.
▪ But the mere fact that an effort was being made hurt Rhayader and drove him to avoid the person making it.
▪ The mere fact of Ryan's being in her cottage?
▪ The mere fact of racial imbalance represented a form of inequality.
▪ The mere fact that a warning has been given will not be sufficient to absolve the occupier.
▪ This does not mean that the mere fact of customer contact calls for heavy control.
simple
▪ When will the Opposition grasp that simple fact?
▪ What initially sounded like a simple experiment in fact required a great deal of effort.
▪ The simple fact of the matter is this: Sparrows love cars.
▪ I wanted to find the simple facts of her life.
▪ This simple fact leads to talk of the momentum swinging his way.
▪ The good reference librarian doesn't give the student the answers, except in matters of simple fact.
▪ The simple facts speak for themselves.
▪ This simple fact deprives you of most of the information you would normally have about the other person.
very
▪ As if to prove this very fact, the beast loosed its ear-shattering boom of a roar once more.
▪ However, the very fact that they are mass-produced and relatively cheap means that they are too frequently seen.
▪ It wasn't that I was tempted to eat those convenient nuts, just the very fact of their existence.
▪ But he knew, deep down, that her attraction was the very fact that she did not.
▪ But that very fact requires a conventionalist to find a more complex political justification than the one I just described.
▪ The very fact they are bought and read daily by millions of people gives mass circulation newspapers an undeniable political role.
▪ Yet this very fact raised two serious problems for the structure of enterprise.
▪ Yet the very fact of taking action was undoubtedly a source of inspiration.
■ VERB
accept
▪ I've learned to accept the fact of being a rock star and how big the band's become.
▪ Today, very late, we are coming to accept the fact that the harvest of renewable resources must be controlled.
▪ This however had to be accepted as a fact and due attention paid to it.
▪ Any city manager accepts the fact that he or she is at the mercy of the council majority, he said.
▪ All right, I told myself, follow your own rules. Accept the fact of the arrow.
▪ And, however suspiciously, the liberal has come to accept the fact.
▪ For all but medieval historians and historians of laundry lists, this has to be accepted as a fact of life.
▪ It is an accepted fact of scientific logic that you can never prove something true.
draw
▪ Some observers have drawn attention to the fact that such assumptions themselves rest on flimsy foundations.
▪ Either way, the rest of us can draw comfort from the fact that all these experts are befuddled, too.
▪ If not, the reference to the terms should at least draw attention to the fact that the terms contain exclusion clauses.
▪ Once it is established what the defendant knew, then the inference to be drawn from these primary facts is objective.
▪ The Republicans drew comfort from the fact that trends of opinion had, for some time, been moving in their direction.
▪ The Marxist Left drew attention to the fact that the sources of industrial conflict were just as explosive as ever.
establish
▪ A statement must be obtained from the Insured to establish the facts and to avoid subsequent dispute as to the circumstances.
▪ It was studiously careful not to speculate beyond the established facts.
▪ The guilt is established by proof of facts.
▪ It took Doyle a moment to establish that fact.
face
▪ She had to face the fact that she still missed him.
▪ Speak out from the pulpit and face the fact that wife beating is sinful.
▪ If you are facing the facts in your relationship or that of some one close to you, be encouraged.
▪ Might it be that Marx faced facts while others sought the dubious shelter of wishful thinking?
▪ My Lai gave the United States a chance to face this fact.
▪ Those Braves fans who predicted another choke job must face facts.
▪ But I had to face the fact that most of the pupils were completely untouched by every part of the curriculum.
▪ She must face up to facts: her original project of family co-operation had fallen through because of her misjudgement.
hide
▪ It was a decoy to hide the fact that they were also killing members of the political opposition.
▪ She didn't care for him, and she had no intention of hiding the fact.
▪ I think that you are an interesting man who wants to hide the fact that he is interesting.
▪ The reason that it's able to hide that fact is the idea that it's a creative industry.
▪ She had hidden this fact from us, and stubbornly tried once again to join the crew.
▪ However, Graham was right in saying the scoreline hid the fact it was a comprehensive defeat.
▪ Artists found it expedient to hide the fact of their use of photographic material or its influence upon them.
ignore
▪ The debate on the role of the state has largely ignored the fact that state means more than government.
▪ There came a day shortly afterwards when I could no longer ignore the fact that he was losing his mind.
▪ Completely ignoring the fact you hit only flesh, which it looks like it to me.
▪ This, however, ignored the fact that the new scheme established a dual market in land.
▪ She ignores the fact that there are two other channels.
▪ This approach ignores the fact that the taxpayer first had to acquire the right to grant sub-licenses.
lie
▪ The blame lies, in fact, with the intellectual ambitions of those who draw up school curricula.
▪ A further piece of veracity lay in the fact that Imelda could not embrace the concept of life without a husband.
▪ The difference lies in the fact that electrons are fermions whereas photons are bosons.
▪ Part of the answer lies in the unexciting fact that he is prepared to take on the jobs.
▪ The problem here lies in the fact that toddlers are egocentric.
▪ Its importance for the believer lies in the fact that it is essential to the rational practice of worship and prayer.
point
▪ One thing that must be pointed out is the fact that these remarks, however romantic-sounding, are all self-centred.
▪ Other experts point to the fact that even specialists are losing jobs.
▪ I pointed to the fact that I was younger than when he took over.
▪ Manchester executives are not shy about pointing out that fact.
▪ Rather it points to the fact that there has been a subtle change in the composition of the teaching force.
▪ I can summarize the preceding by pointing to the fact that there is actually a dual metaphor being employed.
▪ All the evidence would seem to point to the fact that this is the case.
▪ These just point to one important fact: Always seek the advice of your own doctor.
reflect
▪ However slowly, the forms tended over time to reflect the facts.
▪ The methodology chapter must reflect the actual facts of the research experience.
▪ This is reflected in the fact that geography provides a substantial part of the environmental teaching in key stages 1 to 4.
▪ My regard for her was reflected in the fact that I asked her to be my son, Giles's godmother.
▪ These phases and the difficulties of separating them reflect the fact that mental processes are not subject to clearly defined distinctions and boundaries.
▪ But it also reflects the fact that older workers are, by virtue of their life situation, more reliable.
▪ Thus anatomy may reflect the fact that there are only a few ways in which some engineering problem can be solved.
▪ Public policy, she argues, should reflect this fact and reward marriage as the ideal.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
advertise the fact (that)
▪ The recruiting office should advertise the fact that it welcomes members of the public who wish to drop in.
▪ This may be only too true, but if so, why advertise the fact?
▪ To advertise the fact, they surround the pollen and the anthers that produce it with the vivid petals of a flower.
an accomplished fact
▪ At first, the Soviets refused to accept Lithuania's secession as an accomplished fact.
as a matter of fact
▪ As a matter of fact, I have the woman's name written down somewhere.
▪ Well, as a matter of fact, I heard he's still going out with Julie.
▪ And, as a matter of fact, the U. S. Golf Association was delighted.
▪ I like almost all women, as a matter of fact.
▪ It rained all weekend, as a matter of fact, and on the Monday morning I got a shock.
▪ Saw her awhile back at the Community Theater, as a matter of fact.
▪ The wife of a prominent banker, his own banker as a matter of fact, said the banker liked mashed potatoes.
▪ We all were, as a matter of fact.
▪ Yes, it seemed to, as a matter of fact.
▪ You know as a matter of fact there is nothing as old as crookedness.
bald statement/facts/truth
▪ And the truth was - the bald truth was - Lori was crazy about him.
▪ Historians do not make bald statements and always attempt to substantiate their point.
▪ The bald truth is he did the wrong thing, but perhaps he had some of the right reasons.
▪ The account relied more heavily on innuendo than bald statement but the message was clear.
▪ We recognised that the bald statement in the preceding paragraph requires amplification.
be alive to a fact/possibility/danger etc
cold facts
▪ The colder facts about the patterns of career destinations for the bulk of social science graduates are less glamorous but more diverse.
hard evidence/facts/information etc
▪ But lack of documentation limits hard evidence.
▪ But, again, the commission found no hard evidence that Mr Wahid had lied or misused the money.
▪ For a few minutes longer Isabel tried to sort out hard facts from vague suspicions, with little success.
▪ Its record provides hard evidence to support his picture of a service in rude health rather than decline.
▪ Nothing in the way of hard facts, in any event.
▪ There are surely many answers to this question, not one of which is impeccably established by hard evidence.
▪ There is no hard evidence of files spirited away and even if they were, nobody knows whether they contain anything sinister.
▪ This was a pseudo-historical theory for which there was no hard evidence.
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
in point of fact
▪ Many people believe surgery is the only answer. In point of fact, a change in diet is often enough.
▪ Comrade Preobrazhensky preaches abstraction from politics but in point of fact, apart from politics, there is absolutely nothing in the work.
▪ Congar had in point of fact expressed himself cautiously enough, yet several of his books were proscribed.
▪ It was clearly something more than a mere mortal storm and in point of fact Juno was back of it.
▪ This has, in point of fact, always struck me as behaviour verging on the pathological.
▪ What do I say, in point of fact?
it's a matter of fact (that)
stick to the point/subject/facts
▪ "Please stick to the facts," said the judge.
▪ But caution is required where miracles come into play; let us stick to the facts.
▪ Try to stick to the subject of the row rather than bringing up 25 years' worth of misdemeanours.
stretch the truth/facts
▪ Reporters sometimes stretch the facts to catch a reader's eye.
the bare facts
▪ After relating the bare facts of the suicide decades later, Dan looked away, shuddering to keep his composure.
▪ Loretta peered at the bare facts of Puddephat's life.
▪ There is only room here to outline the bare facts about cuts and the main lines of argument that surround them.
the facts of life
the truth/fact of the matter is (that)
▪ For the fact of the matter is, all the fight has been taken out of Blue.
there's no escaping (the fact)
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Gentry still owed Mr Tilly $7,000, a fact he failed to mention when he was arrested.
▪ He's never tried to hide the fact that he spent time in jail.
▪ I'm not interested in your opinions - I just want to know the facts.
▪ It's important that young people learn the facts about drugs.
▪ It is a fact that the world is round.
▪ The book is full of interesting facts about plant life.
▪ The most important thing is to find out what the facts are and put the scandal behind us.
▪ You need to back up your theory with one or two hard facts.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Although her poems appear short and simple, they in fact possess an ever-deepening complexity.
▪ At least if you had no reason to think either would in fact allow more abortions?
▪ Confucianism was above all, in fact, the expression of a particular caste, the educated class known as mandarins.
▪ In fact house prices have reached such proportions in some areas that many engaged couples have had to postpone their weddings.
▪ In fact the Acapulco is a good all round Club base.
▪ In fact the company says that making Ingres secure involves only around a 3% addition to the product in terms of code.
▪ In fact, no one will admit to being the slightest bit nervous about the lift.
▪ The fact is, this is a business deal.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fact

Fact \Fact\ (f[a^]kt), 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: 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.

    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.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
fact

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (see factitious). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."\n

\nCompare feat, which is an earlier adoption of the same word via French. Facts "real state of things (as distinguished from a statement of belief)" is from 1630s. In fact "in reality" is from 1707. Facts of life "harsh realities" is from 1854; euphemistic sense of "human sexual functions" first recorded 1913. Alliterative pairing of facts and figures is from 1727.\n\nFacts and Figures are the most stubborn Evidences; they neither yield to the most persuasive Eloquence, nor bend to the most imperious Authority.

[Abel Boyer, "The Political State of Great Britain," 1727]

Wiktionary
fact

init. 1 Federation Against Copyright Theft 2 Federation of American Consumers and Travelers

Related phrases:
WordNet
fact

  1. n. a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred; "first you must collect all the facts of the case"

  2. a statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened; "he supported his argument with an impressive array of facts"

  3. an event known to have happened or something known to have existed; "your fears have no basis in fact"; "how much of the story is fact and how much fiction is hard to tell"

  4. a concept whose truth can be proved; "scientific hypotheses are not facts"

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
FACT

FACT or FACTS may refer to:

Fact (disambiguation)

A fact is an idea which is considered to be wholly and absolutely true.

Fact or Facts may also refer to:

Fact (US magazine)

Fact Magazine was an American publication that commented on controversial topics.

FACT (biology)

FACT (facilitates chromatin transcription) is a heterodimeric protein complex that affects eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription elongation both in vitro and in vivo. It was discovered in 1998 as a factor purified from human cells that was essential for productive in vitro Pol II transcription on a chromatinized DNA template.

FACT consists of 140 and 80 kilodalton (kDa) subunits. The 140 kDa subunit is encoded by a human gene ( SUPT16H) which is 36% identical to the S. cerevisiae gene Spt16 and the 80 kDa subunit is human SSRP1 (POB3 in S. cerevisiae). Both of these subunits in yeast affect Pol II transcription elongation, and purified human FACT binds specifically to mononucleosomes and the histone H2A/H2B dimer, but not to the H3/H4 tetramer (see: Nucleosome core particle) or Pol II.

Co-immunoprecipitation assays with tagged recombinant proteins showed that the Spt16 subunit interacts with H2A/H2B dimers and mononucleosomes, but not H3/H4 tetramers, whereas the SSRP1 subunit interacts only with H3/H4 tetramers and not mononucleosomes. Deletion of the highly acidic carboxy-terminus of Spt16 (a common feature of known histone chaperones) does not prevent Spt16 from forming a stable complex with SSRP1, but it does eliminate interaction with mononucleosomes and ability to stimulate in vitro transcription on chromatinized templates. The two subunits together, but neither alone, can stimulate formation of nucleosomes from free histones and DNA (histone chaperone activity). These two subunits are highly conserved across all eukaryotes, and in addition to transcription, have been shown to affect DNA repair and replication as well.

In cells, FACT is enriched on parts of the genome involved in actively elongating Pol II, as seen in fluorescent-antibody staining of Drosophila polytene chromosomes and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays on Drosophila Kc cell extracts.

FACT (computer language)

FACT was an early computer programming language, created by the Datamatic Division of Minneapolis Honeywell for its model 800 series business computers in 1959. FACT was an acronym for "Fully Automated Compiling Technique". It was an influence on the design of the COBOL programming language.

Some of the design of FACT was based on the linguistic project Basic English, developed about 1925 by C.K. Ogden.

The software was actually designed by Computer Sciences Corporation (Fletcher Jones, Roy Nutt, and Robert L. Patrick) under contract to Richard Clippinger of Honeywell.

Fact (UK magazine)

Fact (stylized FACT) was founded in 2003 as a British bi-monthly music and youth culture magazine. The magazine became notable for commissioning covers by artists including M.I.A., Bat for Lashes, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Peter Saville, Trevor Jackson, Klaxons and Brazil's Os Gemeos. After its final print edition in 2008, FACT continued as an online magazine.

FACT reached a circulation of 28,000 (25,000 UK and 3,000 overseas) and readership of 100,000+ per issue. FACT was available free from independent record stores, selected clothing outlets and music/arts venues in the UK, and in France, Germany, Spain and Japan.

Fact (band)

FACT was a Japanese rock band, formed in December 1999 in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Clean and screamed singing styles are both used, and gang vocals are present in many choruses. Even though a Japanese band, the lyrics to most of the band's songs are written in English.

The members have hidden their faces during every video since 2009 wearing traditional Japanese Noh masks during the time they supported their second album, Fact (2009), but abandoned the imagery in videos the next year in favor of either partially or fully concealing their faces.

They are signed to Maximum10, an indie-rock imprint of the Avex Group.

Fact (album)

Fact is the second full-length album by Japanese post-hardcore band FACT, and their first on a major label. It is also their first worldwide release. The only single from the album was "A Fact of Life", for which a music video was made. On the Japanese version of the album, the track "A Fact of Life ( Boom Boom Satellites Remix)" does not appear.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "fact".

A certain positive terror grew on me as we advanced to this actual site of the elder world behind the legends--a terror, of course, abetted by the fact that my disturbing dreams and pseudo-memories still beset me with unabated force.

The fables of Atreus, Thiestes, Tereus and Progne signifieth the wicked and abhominable facts wrought and attempted by mortall men.

In fact, Abigail told me it was precisely because they had no money that her aunt and uncle in Washington refused to acknowledge them.

The fact that you saw what you did confirms your ability to be functional at our destination.

In fact, upon hearing that certain masters were dissecting living nymphs in order to ascertain the cause of their madness, he formally abjured his Profession of Faith and quit the Scientists.

In fact, the opening was depressingly familiar, full of protestations of loyalty to both King George and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, plus a promise that the authors would willingly fight the French, indeed die for their country, but they could not face another day aboard such a hellish ship.

Privately I ascribed her immunity to the fact that, being a woman, she escaped most of the cuts and abrasions to which we hard-working men were subject in the course of working the Snark around the world.

He might abuse her in some other way, such as by inserting his fingers or an object to demonstrate his control and contempt, and in fact, we soon learned of the vaginal abrasions and bruising.

Court, in conformity with the aforementioned theories of economics and evolution, was in fact committed to the principle that freedom of contract is the general rule and that legislative authority to abridge the same could be justified only by exceptional circumstances.

Reason-Principles which, by the fact that they are Principles of harmony, meet in the unit of Harmony, the absolute Harmony, a more comprehensive Principle, greater than they and including them as its parts.

It appears from these several facts that digitaline causes inflection, and poisons the glands which absorb a moderately large amount.

These cases of the simultaneous darkening or blackening of the glands from the action of weak solutions are important, as they show that all the glands absorbed the carbonate within the same time, which fact indeed there was not the least reason to doubt.

Whether Walter West let him watch while he abused young girls, or whether he encouraged his son to take his place, or whether, in fact, he abused him directly Frederick West was never to reveal.

While child abuse is an ever-increasing fact of British life, now estimated to afflict one family in every twelve, not every abused child goes on to kill.

The fact that these drug abusers were in jail proved, once and for all, that drugs drove people to crime.