Fact

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.]
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              A project for the fact and vending
              Of a new kind of fucus, paint for ladies. --B.
                                                    Jonson.
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     2. An effect produced or achieved; anything done or that
        comes to pass; an act; an event; a circumstance.
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              What might instigate him to this devilish fact, I am
              not able to conjecture.               --Evelyn.
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              He who most excels in fact of arms.   --Milton.
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     3. Reality; actuality; truth; as, he, in fact, excelled all
        the rest; the fact is, he was beaten.
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     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.
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              I do not grant the fact.              --De Foe.
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              This reasoning is founded upon a fact which is not
              true.                                 --Roger Long.
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     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.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fact
       n 1: 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"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  140 Moby Thesaurus words for "fact":
     absolute fact, accepted fact, accomplishment, act, actual fact,
     actuality, actually, admitted fact, adventure, article, aspect,
     authenticity, axiom, bald fact, bare fact, basis for belief,
     body of evidence, brutal fact, case, certainty, chain of evidence,
     circumstance, clue, cold fact, conceded fact, count, data, datum,
     deed, demonstrable fact, detail, details, documentation, element,
     empirical fact, episode, established fact, eternal verities, event,
     evidence, exhibit, experience, facet, fact of experience, factor,
     factors, facts, factually, fait accompli, genuineness, given fact,
     good sooth, grounds, grounds for belief, hap, happening,
     happenstance, hard fact, historical truth, historicity, in fact,
     in reality, in truth, incident, incidental, indeed, indication,
     indisputable fact, inescapable fact, information, instance, item,
     item of evidence, items, low-down, manifestation, mark,
     material grounds, matter, matter of fact, minor detail, minutia,
     minutiae, muniments, mute witness, naked fact, not guesswork,
     not opinion, observable, occasion, occurrence, particular,
     particulars, phenomenon, piece of evidence, plain, point, points,
     positive fact, postulate, premises, proof, provable fact, reality,
     really, reason to believe, regard, relevant fact, respect,
     salient fact, self-evident fact, sign, significant fact,
     simple fact, sober fact, sooth, stubborn fact, symptom, the case,
     the nitty-gritty, the score, the true, thing, to be sure, token,
     trueness, truly, truth, truthfully, truthfulness, turn of events,
     ultimate truth, undeniable fact, unerroneousness, unfallaciousness,
     unfalseness, veracity, verity, very truth, well-known fact
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  FACT
       
          {Fully Automated Compiling Technique}
       
       

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  fact
       
           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)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  FACT. An action; a thing done. It is either simple or compound.
       2. A fact is simple when it expresses a purely material act unconnected 
  with any moral qualification; for example, to say Peter went into his house, 
  is to express a simple fact. A compound fact contains the materiality of the 
  act, and the qualification which that act has in its connexion with morals 
  and, the law. To say, then, that Peter has stolen a horse, is to express a 
  compound fact; for the fact of stealing, expresses at the same time, the 
  material fact of taking the horse, and of taking him with the guilty 
  intention of depriving the owner of his property and appropriating it to his 
  own use; which is a violation of the law of property. 
       3. Fact. is also put in opposition to law; in every case which has to 
  be tried there are facts to be established, and the law which bears on those 
  facts. 
       4. Facts are also to be considered as material or immaterial. Material 
  facts are those which are essential to the right of action or defence, and 
  therefore of the substance of the one or the other - these must always be 
  proved; or immaterial, which are those not essential to the cause of action 
  - these need not be proved. 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3150-53. 
       5. Facts are generally determined by a jury,; but there are many facts, 
  which, not being the principal matters in issue, may be decided by the 
  court; such, for example, whether a subpoena has or has not been served; 
  whether a party has or has not been summoned, &c. As to pleading material 
  facts, see Gould. Pl. c. 3, s. 28. As to quality of facts proved, see 3 
  Bouv. Inst. n. 3150. Vide Eng. Ecc. R. 401-2, and the article Circumstances.