Meanings
adjectivesemifactual (not comparable)
- not comparableOnly partly factual.
Suppose you are given the semifactual assertion, "even if Nora had liked mathematics then she would have became^([sic]) a scientist" and then you find out that Nora did in fact become a scientist.
2007 January 26, Ruth M. J. Byrne, The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 140
nounsemifactual (plural semifactuals)
plural semifactuals
- human sciencesA conditional with a false antecedent and a true consequent.
Origin
From semi- + factual. In the logic sense, introduced by Nelson Goodman.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
semifactual. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semifactual
MLA
“semifactual.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semifactual. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “semifactual,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semifactual.
Source: semifactual on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.