Meanings
alternative fact is often stranger than fiction · alternative fact is stranger than fiction · alternative truth is often stranger than fiction
- Sometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones.
In the end, truth is stranger than fiction: reality has more complications, more unanticipable twists and turns than fiction could ever imagine.
2003, Nicholas Rescher, Imagining Irreality: A Study of Unreal Possibilities, Open Court Publishing, →ISBN, page 2391 more example
It has often been said that truth is stranger than fiction. But what writer of the most extravagant fiction could have thought up such a life as that of William Kiffin? A poor orphan becoming one of the wealthiest merchants in the country; […]
1989, B. A. Ramsbottom, Stranger Than Fiction: The Life of William Kiffin, Gospel Standard Publications, →ISBN, page 7
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Attributed to Lord Byron.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish totuus on tarua ihmeellisempää
- totuus on tarua ihmeellisempääsometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones
French la réalité dépasse la fiction
- la réalité dépasse la fictionsometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones
Irish is iontaí fírinne ná finscéal
- is iontaí fírinne ná finscéalsometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones
Japanese 事実は小説より奇なり
- 事実は小説より奇なり (jijitsu wa shōsetsu yori ki nari)sometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones
Romanian viața bate filmul
- viața bate filmulsometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones
Spanish la realidad supera a la ficción
- la realidad supera a la ficciónsometimes actual events are stranger than imagined ones
Cite this entry
truth is stranger than fiction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/truth%20is%20stranger%20than%20fiction
“truth is stranger than fiction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/truth%20is%20stranger%20than%20fiction. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “truth is stranger than fiction,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/truth%20is%20stranger%20than%20fiction.
Source: truth is stranger than fiction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.