FACT


Meaning of FACT in English

noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a sad fact

It’s a sad fact that a significant amount of crime is committed by young people.

actual fact (= really )

In actual fact , there is little evidence to support the allegations.

an accessory before/after the fact (= someone who helps a criminal before or after the crime )

an established fact (= a piece of information that has been tested and shown to be true )

It is an established fact that 1 in 10 undergraduates leave university in their first year.

basic facts

You should start by giving the basic facts.

bemoaning the fact that

He was bemoaning the fact that lawyers charge so much.

betrayed the fact that

The crumpled sheets betrayed the fact that someone had been sleeping there.

conceal the fact that

She tried to conceal the fact that she was pregnant.

deny a fact

You can’t deny the fact that we made a mistake.

despite the fact (that)

She went to Spain despite the fact that her doctor had told her to rest.

disguise the fact (that)

There’s no disguising the fact that business is bad.

fact of life

Mass unemployment seems to be a fact of life nowadays.

fact sheet

have no basis in fact (= be not true )

Many of these rumours have no basis in fact.

hide the fact

He took off his ring to hide the fact that he was married.

ignore the fact

You can’t ignore the fact that many criminals never go to prison.

in spite of the fact that

Kelly loved her husband in spite of the fact that he drank too much.

irrefutable evidence/proof/facts

irrefutable proof of his innocence

lamented the fact that

She lamented the fact that manufacturers did not produce small packs for single-person households.

lies in the fact that

The strength of the book lies in the fact that the material is from classroom experience.

obscured the fact

Recent successes have obscured the fact that the company is still in trouble.

overlook the fact that

Nobody could overlook the fact that box office sales were down.

resented the fact that

Paul resented the fact that Carol didn’t trust him.

resigned to the fact that

Sam was resigned to the fact that he would never be promoted.

stress a fact

Medicines usually stress the fact that you must not exceed the stated dose.

The fact remains that

The fact remains that racism is still a considerable problem.

The mere fact

The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign.

The plain fact is

The plain fact is people still buy books.

the very fact that

The very fact that this is their second home means that they are well-off.

told...the facts of life

Mum told me the facts of life when I was twelve.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

mere

The mere fact he had been invited to the eight-man special event represented progress.

The mere fact that they are willing to undertake these repairs proves that they fear us.

The mere fact of his suspicions concerning Tammuz dictated he must at least inspect who came calling.

But the mere fact that an effort was being made hurt Rhayader and drove him to avoid the person making it.

The mere fact of Ryan's being in her cottage?

The mere fact of racial imbalance represented a form of inequality.

The mere fact that a warning has been given will not be sufficient to absolve the occupier.

This does not mean that the mere fact of customer contact calls for heavy control.

simple

When will the Opposition grasp that simple fact ?

What initially sounded like a simple experiment in fact required a great deal of effort.

The simple fact of the matter is this: Sparrows love cars.

I wanted to find the simple facts of her life.

This simple fact leads to talk of the momentum swinging his way.

The good reference librarian doesn't give the student the answers, except in matters of simple fact .

The simple facts speak for themselves.

This simple fact deprives you of most of the information you would normally have about the other person.

very

As if to prove this very fact , the beast loosed its ear-shattering boom of a roar once more.

However, the very fact that they are mass-produced and relatively cheap means that they are too frequently seen.

It wasn't that I was tempted to eat those convenient nuts, just the very fact of their existence.

But he knew, deep down, that her attraction was the very fact that she did not.

But that very fact requires a conventionalist to find a more complex political justification than the one I just described.

The very fact they are bought and read daily by millions of people gives mass circulation newspapers an undeniable political role.

Yet this very fact raised two serious problems for the structure of enterprise.

Yet the very fact of taking action was undoubtedly a source of inspiration.

■ VERB

accept

I've learned to accept the fact of being a rock star and how big the band's become.

Today, very late, we are coming to accept the fact that the harvest of renewable resources must be controlled.

This however had to be accepted as a fact and due attention paid to it.

Any city manager accepts the fact that he or she is at the mercy of the council majority, he said.

All right, I told myself, follow your own rules. Accept the fact of the arrow.

And, however suspiciously, the liberal has come to accept the fact .

For all but medieval historians and historians of laundry lists, this has to be accepted as a fact of life.

It is an accepted fact of scientific logic that you can never prove something true.

draw

Some observers have drawn attention to the fact that such assumptions themselves rest on flimsy foundations.

Either way, the rest of us can draw comfort from the fact that all these experts are befuddled, too.

If not, the reference to the terms should at least draw attention to the fact that the terms contain exclusion clauses.

Once it is established what the defendant knew, then the inference to be drawn from these primary facts is objective.

The Republicans drew comfort from the fact that trends of opinion had, for some time, been moving in their direction.

The Marxist Left drew attention to the fact that the sources of industrial conflict were just as explosive as ever.

establish

A statement must be obtained from the Insured to establish the facts and to avoid subsequent dispute as to the circumstances.

It was studiously careful not to speculate beyond the established facts .

The guilt is established by proof of facts .

It took Doyle a moment to establish that fact .

face

She had to face the fact that she still missed him.

Speak out from the pulpit and face the fact that wife beating is sinful.

If you are facing the facts in your relationship or that of some one close to you, be encouraged.

Might it be that Marx faced facts while others sought the dubious shelter of wishful thinking?

My Lai gave the United States a chance to face this fact .

Those Braves fans who predicted another choke job must face facts .

But I had to face the fact that most of the pupils were completely untouched by every part of the curriculum.

She must face up to facts: her original project of family co-operation had fallen through because of her misjudgement.

hide

It was a decoy to hide the fact that they were also killing members of the political opposition.

She didn't care for him, and she had no intention of hiding the fact .

I think that you are an interesting man who wants to hide the fact that he is interesting.

The reason that it's able to hide that fact is the idea that it's a creative industry.

She had hidden this fact from us, and stubbornly tried once again to join the crew.

However, Graham was right in saying the scoreline hid the fact it was a comprehensive defeat.

Artists found it expedient to hide the fact of their use of photographic material or its influence upon them.

ignore

The debate on the role of the state has largely ignored the fact that state means more than government.

There came a day shortly afterwards when I could no longer ignore the fact that he was losing his mind.

Completely ignoring the fact you hit only flesh, which it looks like it to me.

This, however, ignored the fact that the new scheme established a dual market in land.

She ignores the fact that there are two other channels.

This approach ignores the fact that the taxpayer first had to acquire the right to grant sub-licenses.

lie

The blame lies , in fact , with the intellectual ambitions of those who draw up school curricula.

A further piece of veracity lay in the fact that Imelda could not embrace the concept of life without a husband.

The difference lies in the fact that electrons are fermions whereas photons are bosons.

Part of the answer lies in the unexciting fact that he is prepared to take on the jobs.

The problem here lies in the fact that toddlers are egocentric.

Its importance for the believer lies in the fact that it is essential to the rational practice of worship and prayer.

point

One thing that must be pointed out is the fact that these remarks, however romantic-sounding, are all self-centred.

Other experts point to the fact that even specialists are losing jobs.

I pointed to the fact that I was younger than when he took over.

Manchester executives are not shy about pointing out that fact .

Rather it points to the fact that there has been a subtle change in the composition of the teaching force.

I can summarize the preceding by pointing to the fact that there is actually a dual metaphor being employed.

All the evidence would seem to point to the fact that this is the case.

These just point to one important fact: Always seek the advice of your own doctor.

reflect

However slowly, the forms tended over time to reflect the facts .

The methodology chapter must reflect the actual facts of the research experience.

This is reflected in the fact that geography provides a substantial part of the environmental teaching in key stages 1 to 4.

My regard for her was reflected in the fact that I asked her to be my son, Giles's godmother.

These phases and the difficulties of separating them reflect the fact that mental processes are not subject to clearly defined distinctions and boundaries.

But it also reflects the fact that older workers are, by virtue of their life situation, more reliable.

Thus anatomy may reflect the fact that there are only a few ways in which some engineering problem can be solved.

Public policy, she argues, should reflect this fact and reward marriage as the ideal.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

advertise the fact (that)

The recruiting office should advertise the fact that it welcomes members of the public who wish to drop in.

This may be only too true, but if so, why advertise the fact?

To advertise the fact, they surround the pollen and the anthers that produce it with the vivid petals of a flower.

an accomplished fact

At first, the Soviets refused to accept Lithuania's secession as an accomplished fact.

as a matter of fact

As a matter of fact, I have the woman's name written down somewhere.

Well, as a matter of fact, I heard he's still going out with Julie.

And, as a matter of fact, the U. S. Golf Association was delighted.

I like almost all women, as a matter of fact.

It rained all weekend, as a matter of fact, and on the Monday morning I got a shock.

Saw her awhile back at the Community Theater, as a matter of fact.

The wife of a prominent banker, his own banker as a matter of fact, said the banker liked mashed potatoes.

We all were, as a matter of fact.

Yes, it seemed to, as a matter of fact.

You know as a matter of fact there is nothing as old as crookedness.

bald statement/facts/truth

And the truth was - the bald truth was - Lori was crazy about him.

Historians do not make bald statements and always attempt to substantiate their point.

The bald truth is he did the wrong thing, but perhaps he had some of the right reasons.

The account relied more heavily on innuendo than bald statement but the message was clear.

We recognised that the bald statement in the preceding paragraph requires amplification.

be alive to a fact/possibility/danger etc

cold facts

The colder facts about the patterns of career destinations for the bulk of social science graduates are less glamorous but more diverse.

hard evidence/facts/information etc

But lack of documentation limits hard evidence.

But, again, the commission found no hard evidence that Mr Wahid had lied or misused the money.

For a few minutes longer Isabel tried to sort out hard facts from vague suspicions, with little success.

Its record provides hard evidence to support his picture of a service in rude health rather than decline.

Nothing in the way of hard facts, in any event.

There are surely many answers to this question, not one of which is impeccably established by hard evidence.

There is no hard evidence of files spirited away and even if they were, nobody knows whether they contain anything sinister.

This was a pseudo-historical theory for which there was no hard evidence.

have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc

in point of fact

Many people believe surgery is the only answer. In point of fact, a change in diet is often enough.

Comrade Preobrazhensky preaches abstraction from politics but in point of fact, apart from politics, there is absolutely nothing in the work.

Congar had in point of fact expressed himself cautiously enough, yet several of his books were proscribed.

It was clearly something more than a mere mortal storm and in point of fact Juno was back of it.

This has, in point of fact, always struck me as behaviour verging on the pathological.

What do I say, in point of fact?

it's a matter of fact (that)

stick to the point/subject/facts

"Please stick to the facts," said the judge.

But caution is required where miracles come into play; let us stick to the facts.

Try to stick to the subject of the row rather than bringing up 25 years' worth of misdemeanours.

stretch the truth/facts

Reporters sometimes stretch the facts to catch a reader's eye.

the bare facts

After relating the bare facts of the suicide decades later, Dan looked away, shuddering to keep his composure.

Loretta peered at the bare facts of Puddephat's life.

There is only room here to outline the bare facts about cuts and the main lines of argument that surround them.

the facts of life

the truth/fact of the matter is (that)

For the fact of the matter is, all the fight has been taken out of Blue.

there's no escaping (the fact)

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

Gentry still owed Mr Tilly $7,000, a fact he failed to mention when he was arrested.

He's never tried to hide the fact that he spent time in jail.

I'm not interested in your opinions - I just want to know the facts.

It's important that young people learn the facts about drugs.

It is a fact that the world is round.

The book is full of interesting facts about plant life.

The most important thing is to find out what the facts are and put the scandal behind us.

You need to back up your theory with one or two hard facts.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Although her poems appear short and simple, they in fact possess an ever-deepening complexity.

At least if you had no reason to think either would in fact allow more abortions?

Confucianism was above all, in fact , the expression of a particular caste, the educated class known as mandarins.

In fact house prices have reached such proportions in some areas that many engaged couples have had to postpone their weddings.

In fact the Acapulco is a good all round Club base.

In fact the company says that making Ingres secure involves only around a 3% addition to the product in terms of code.

In fact , no one will admit to being the slightest bit nervous about the lift.

The fact is, this is a business deal.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.