|
Fact - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
|
Fact : (noun)
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"
Based on WordNet 2.0
|
|
Fact : \Fact\, 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: TheTerm fact has in jurisprudence peculiar uses in
contrast with low; as, attorney at low, and attorney in
fact; issue in low, and issue in fact. There is also a
grand distinction between low and fact with reference
to the province of the judge and that of the jury, the
latter generally determining the fact, the former the
low. --Burrill Bouvier.
Accessary before, or 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.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
|
|
FACT. An action; a thing done. It is either simple or compound.
2. AFact : 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.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
|
|
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)
Based on the Online Dictionary of Computing [Computer_Dictionary]:
|
|
|
|
Example Usage of Fact |
 |
mclarengof: @rorocat biased? yeah maybe, but i most often side with Fact, so odds are ya look pretty, like always :D |
 |
NerdvanaStudios: I especially like how they say that Coraline is a parable about Jesus, in spite of the Fact that @neilhimself is Jewish. |
 |
joycem137: @cryptodragon That Fact is quite frustrating to me, on a variety of levels. |
|
|
