fait accompli

plural faits accomplis

1. Something which has already happened, before those affected had the chance to raise objections or queries; especially, such a thing that cannot be undone.

   Thanks to a bureaucratic fait accompli, the demolition was already approved and has already started.

   4 more examples

   Mr. Quiverful's appointment to the hospital was, however, a fait accompli, and Mr. Harding's acquiescence in that appointment was not less so.

   1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Slope’s Parting Interview with the Signora”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 272

   “In quarters where the fait accompli is an object of solicitude,” said Yeovil.

   1913, Saki, When William Came, Chapter VII

   The phrase “Spanish Conquest” and all it implies has come down through history because the Spaniards were so concerned to depict their endeavors as conquests and pacifications, as contracts fulfilled, as providential intention, as faits accomplis.

   2003, Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 65

   [Hal] Varian awards surveillance capitalists the privilege of the experimenter's role, and this is presented as another casual fait accompli.

   2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 10, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

2. An action or establishment that cannot be undone.

   Near-synonyms: done deal, water under the bridge

   1 more example

   The introduction of white clover to the Americas is a fait accompli.

   Synonyms: done deal, water under the bridge