in fact

/ɪnˈfækt/

prepositional phrase

Resulting from the actions of parties.

“People think he's rich, but in fact he's nearly penniless.”

Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. lawResulting from the actions of parties.
  2. modalActually; in truth; de facto.

    People think he's rich, but in fact he's nearly penniless.

    4 more examples

    Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

    A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

    1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016

    Menggetimur (d. 1433),¹⁸ chief of the Odoli subtribe of the Chien-chou Jurchen, had in fact moved into Korea south of the Tumen River. Because he offered tribute to the Choson court and had encamped at Hoeryŏng (Chinese: Hui-ning), the Koreans regarded him as their vassal.

    1998, Donald N. Clark, “Sino-Korean tributary relations under the Ming”, in Denis Twitchett, Frederick W. Mote, editors, The Cambridge History of China, volume 8, number 2, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 286

    We tend to think of the seafloor a few kilometres down as a flat plain. In fact, about two-thirds of this “abyssal” seabed is made up of gentle rolling hills a few hundred metres high, says Jennifer Durden at the University of Southampton, UK.

    2015 August 8, Bob Holmes, “Ocean hills yield secret ecosystems”, in New Scientist, number 3033, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2015, page 14

    Synonyms: as a matter of fact, in actuality

  3. Moreover.

    I don't have the time or patience to deal with him. In fact, I barely even have time for being here at all.

    Synonyms: as a matter of fact

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseActually; in truth; de facto.

prepositional phraseMoreover.

More synonyms by meaning

adverbin reality or actuality

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchen fait
  2. Englishin fact

From fact (“deed, action”) (now obsolete, except in law). Perhaps ultimately a calque of French en fait.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ἀληθῶς, τῷ ὄντι
  • ἀληθῶς (alēthôs)actually, in truth
  • τῷ ὄντι (tōî ónti)actually, in truth
Arabic فِي الْحَقِيقَة
  • فِي الْحَقِيقَة (fī l-ḥaqīqa)actually, in truth
Bulgarian в действителност
  • в действителност (v dejstvitelnost)actually, in truth
Catalan de fet, en realitat
  • de fetactually, in truth
  • en realitatactually, in truth
Chinese Mandarin 事實上 /事实上, 其實 /其实
  • 事實上 /事实上 (shìshíshàng)actually, in truth
  • 其實 /其实 (qíshí)actually, in truth
Czech ve skutečnosti
  • ve skutečnostiactually, in truth
Dutch feitelijk, in feite
  • feitelijkactually, in truth
  • in feiteactually, in truth
Esperanto fakte
  • fakteactually, in truth
Finnish tosiasiassa, tosiasiallisesti
  • tosiasiassaactually, in truth
  • tosiasiallisestiactually, in truth
  • itse asiassaactually, in truth
  • oikeastaanactually, in truth
French en fait
  • en faitactually, in truth
German tatsächlich, in Wirklichkeit
  • tatsächlichactually, in truth
  • in Wirklichkeitactually, in truth
  • eigentlichactually, in truth
Greek στην πραγματικότητα, όντως
  • στην πραγματικότητα (stin pragmatikótita)actually, in truth
  • όντως (óntos)actually, in truth
  • πράγματι (prágmati)actually, in truth
Hebrew בְּעֶצֶם
  • בְּעֶצֶם (be'étzem)actually, in truth
Hungarian valójában
  • valójábanactually, in truth
Icelandic reyndar, í raun
  • reyndaractually, in truth
  • í raunactually, in truth
  • í rauninniactually, in truth
Italian di fatto, in realtà
  • di fattoactually, in truth
  • in realtàactually, in truth
Japanese 実は, 実際には
  • 実は (jitsu-wa)actually, in truth
  • 実際には (jissai-niwa)actually, in truth
Latin rēvēra
  • rēvēraactually, in truth
Māori koa
  • koaactually, in truth
Persian در حقیقت, در واقع
  • در حقیقتactually, in truth
  • در واقعactually, in truth
Polish w istocie, tak naprawdę
  • w istocieactually, in truth
  • tak naprawdęactually, in truth
  • zaisteactually, in truth
  • w rzeczy samejactually, in truth
  • w rzeczywistościactually, in truth
Portuguese na verdade
  • na verdadeactually, in truth
Romanian de fapt
  • de faptactually, in truth
Russian вообще́-то, на са́мом де́ле
  • вообще́-то (voobščé-to)actually, in truth
  • на са́мом де́ле (na sámom déle)actually, in truth
  • в действи́тельности (v dejstvítelʹnosti)actually, in truth
  • на де́ле (na déle)actually, in truth
  • факти́чески (faktíčeski)actually, in truth
Spanish de hecho
  • de hechoactually, in truth
Swedish faktiskt
  • faktisktactually, in truth
Tagalog ang totoo, sa totoo lang
  • ang totooactually, in truth
  • sa totoo langactually, in truth
Urdu بلکہ
  • بلکہ (balkih)actually, in truth
Welsh mewn gwirionedd
  • mewn gwirioneddactually, in truth
Cite this entry
APA

in fact. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20fact

MLA

“in fact.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20fact. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in fact,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20fact.

Source: in fact on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.