noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a sad fact
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It’s a sad fact that a significant amount of crime is committed by young people.
actual fact (= really )
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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 )
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It is an established fact that 1 in 10 undergraduates leave university in their first year.
basic facts
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You should start by giving the basic facts.
bemoaning the fact that
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He was bemoaning the fact that lawyers charge so much.
betrayed the fact that
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The crumpled sheets betrayed the fact that someone had been sleeping there.
conceal the fact that
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She tried to conceal the fact that she was pregnant.
deny a fact
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You can’t deny the fact that we made a mistake.
despite the fact (that)
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She went to Spain despite the fact that her doctor had told her to rest.
disguise the fact (that)
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There’s no disguising the fact that business is bad.
fact of life
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Mass unemployment seems to be a fact of life nowadays.
fact sheet
have no basis in fact (= be not true )
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Many of these rumours have no basis in fact.
hide the fact
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He took off his ring to hide the fact that he was married.
ignore the fact
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You can’t ignore the fact that many criminals never go to prison.
in spite of the fact that
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Kelly loved her husband in spite of the fact that he drank too much.
irrefutable evidence/proof/facts
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irrefutable proof of his innocence
lamented the fact that
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She lamented the fact that manufacturers did not produce small packs for single-person households.
lies in the fact that
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The strength of the book lies in the fact that the material is from classroom experience.
obscured the fact
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Recent successes have obscured the fact that the company is still in trouble.
overlook the fact that
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Nobody could overlook the fact that box office sales were down.
resented the fact that
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Paul resented the fact that Carol didn’t trust him.
resigned to the fact that
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Sam was resigned to the fact that he would never be promoted.
stress a fact
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Medicines usually stress the fact that you must not exceed the stated dose.
The fact remains that
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The fact remains that racism is still a considerable problem.
The mere fact
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The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign.
The plain fact is
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The plain fact is people still buy books.
the very fact that
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The very fact that this is their second home means that they are well-off.
told...the facts of life
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Mum told me the facts of life when I was twelve.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
mere
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The mere fact he had been invited to the eight-man special event represented progress.
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The mere fact that they are willing to undertake these repairs proves that they fear us.
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The mere fact of his suspicions concerning Tammuz dictated he must at least inspect who came calling.
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But the mere fact that an effort was being made hurt Rhayader and drove him to avoid the person making it.
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The mere fact of Ryan's being in her cottage?
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The mere fact of racial imbalance represented a form of inequality.
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The mere fact that a warning has been given will not be sufficient to absolve the occupier.
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This does not mean that the mere fact of customer contact calls for heavy control.
simple
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When will the Opposition grasp that simple fact ?
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What initially sounded like a simple experiment in fact required a great deal of effort.
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The simple fact of the matter is this: Sparrows love cars.
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I wanted to find the simple facts of her life.
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This simple fact leads to talk of the momentum swinging his way.
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The good reference librarian doesn't give the student the answers, except in matters of simple fact .
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The simple facts speak for themselves.
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This simple fact deprives you of most of the information you would normally have about the other person.
very
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As if to prove this very fact , the beast loosed its ear-shattering boom of a roar once more.
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However, the very fact that they are mass-produced and relatively cheap means that they are too frequently seen.
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It wasn't that I was tempted to eat those convenient nuts, just the very fact of their existence.
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But he knew, deep down, that her attraction was the very fact that she did not.
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But that very fact requires a conventionalist to find a more complex political justification than the one I just described.
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The very fact they are bought and read daily by millions of people gives mass circulation newspapers an undeniable political role.
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Yet this very fact raised two serious problems for the structure of enterprise.
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Yet the very fact of taking action was undoubtedly a source of inspiration.
■ VERB
accept
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I've learned to accept the fact of being a rock star and how big the band's become.
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Today, very late, we are coming to accept the fact that the harvest of renewable resources must be controlled.
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This however had to be accepted as a fact and due attention paid to it.
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Any city manager accepts the fact that he or she is at the mercy of the council majority, he said.
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All right, I told myself, follow your own rules. Accept the fact of the arrow.
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And, however suspiciously, the liberal has come to accept the fact .
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For all but medieval historians and historians of laundry lists, this has to be accepted as a fact of life.
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It is an accepted fact of scientific logic that you can never prove something true.
draw
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Some observers have drawn attention to the fact that such assumptions themselves rest on flimsy foundations.
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Either way, the rest of us can draw comfort from the fact that all these experts are befuddled, too.
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If not, the reference to the terms should at least draw attention to the fact that the terms contain exclusion clauses.
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Once it is established what the defendant knew, then the inference to be drawn from these primary facts is objective.
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The Republicans drew comfort from the fact that trends of opinion had, for some time, been moving in their direction.
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The Marxist Left drew attention to the fact that the sources of industrial conflict were just as explosive as ever.
establish
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A statement must be obtained from the Insured to establish the facts and to avoid subsequent dispute as to the circumstances.
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It was studiously careful not to speculate beyond the established facts .
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The guilt is established by proof of facts .
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It took Doyle a moment to establish that fact .
face
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She had to face the fact that she still missed him.
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Speak out from the pulpit and face the fact that wife beating is sinful.
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If you are facing the facts in your relationship or that of some one close to you, be encouraged.
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Might it be that Marx faced facts while others sought the dubious shelter of wishful thinking?
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My Lai gave the United States a chance to face this fact .
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Those Braves fans who predicted another choke job must face facts .
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But I had to face the fact that most of the pupils were completely untouched by every part of the curriculum.
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She must face up to facts: her original project of family co-operation had fallen through because of her misjudgement.
hide
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It was a decoy to hide the fact that they were also killing members of the political opposition.
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She didn't care for him, and she had no intention of hiding the fact .
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I think that you are an interesting man who wants to hide the fact that he is interesting.
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The reason that it's able to hide that fact is the idea that it's a creative industry.
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She had hidden this fact from us, and stubbornly tried once again to join the crew.
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However, Graham was right in saying the scoreline hid the fact it was a comprehensive defeat.
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Artists found it expedient to hide the fact of their use of photographic material or its influence upon them.
ignore
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The debate on the role of the state has largely ignored the fact that state means more than government.
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There came a day shortly afterwards when I could no longer ignore the fact that he was losing his mind.
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Completely ignoring the fact you hit only flesh, which it looks like it to me.
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This, however, ignored the fact that the new scheme established a dual market in land.
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She ignores the fact that there are two other channels.
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This approach ignores the fact that the taxpayer first had to acquire the right to grant sub-licenses.
lie
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The blame lies , in fact , with the intellectual ambitions of those who draw up school curricula.
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A further piece of veracity lay in the fact that Imelda could not embrace the concept of life without a husband.
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The difference lies in the fact that electrons are fermions whereas photons are bosons.
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Part of the answer lies in the unexciting fact that he is prepared to take on the jobs.
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The problem here lies in the fact that toddlers are egocentric.
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Its importance for the believer lies in the fact that it is essential to the rational practice of worship and prayer.
point
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One thing that must be pointed out is the fact that these remarks, however romantic-sounding, are all self-centred.
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Other experts point to the fact that even specialists are losing jobs.
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I pointed to the fact that I was younger than when he took over.
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Manchester executives are not shy about pointing out that fact .
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Rather it points to the fact that there has been a subtle change in the composition of the teaching force.
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I can summarize the preceding by pointing to the fact that there is actually a dual metaphor being employed.
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All the evidence would seem to point to the fact that this is the case.
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These just point to one important fact: Always seek the advice of your own doctor.
reflect
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However slowly, the forms tended over time to reflect the facts .
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The methodology chapter must reflect the actual facts of the research experience.
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This is reflected in the fact that geography provides a substantial part of the environmental teaching in key stages 1 to 4.
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My regard for her was reflected in the fact that I asked her to be my son, Giles's godmother.
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These phases and the difficulties of separating them reflect the fact that mental processes are not subject to clearly defined distinctions and boundaries.
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But it also reflects the fact that older workers are, by virtue of their life situation, more reliable.
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Thus anatomy may reflect the fact that there are only a few ways in which some engineering problem can be solved.
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Public policy, she argues, should reflect this fact and reward marriage as the ideal.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
advertise the fact (that)
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The recruiting office should advertise the fact that it welcomes members of the public who wish to drop in.
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This may be only too true, but if so, why advertise the fact?
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To advertise the fact, they surround the pollen and the anthers that produce it with the vivid petals of a flower.
an accomplished fact
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At first, the Soviets refused to accept Lithuania's secession as an accomplished fact.
as a matter of fact
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As a matter of fact, I have the woman's name written down somewhere.
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Well, as a matter of fact, I heard he's still going out with Julie.
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And, as a matter of fact, the U. S. Golf Association was delighted.
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I like almost all women, as a matter of fact.
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It rained all weekend, as a matter of fact, and on the Monday morning I got a shock.
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Saw her awhile back at the Community Theater, as a matter of fact.
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The wife of a prominent banker, his own banker as a matter of fact, said the banker liked mashed potatoes.
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We all were, as a matter of fact.
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Yes, it seemed to, as a matter of fact.
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You know as a matter of fact there is nothing as old as crookedness.
bald statement/facts/truth
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And the truth was - the bald truth was - Lori was crazy about him.
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Historians do not make bald statements and always attempt to substantiate their point.
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The bald truth is he did the wrong thing, but perhaps he had some of the right reasons.
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The account relied more heavily on innuendo than bald statement but the message was clear.
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We recognised that the bald statement in the preceding paragraph requires amplification.
be alive to a fact/possibility/danger etc
cold facts
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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
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But lack of documentation limits hard evidence.
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But, again, the commission found no hard evidence that Mr Wahid had lied or misused the money.
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For a few minutes longer Isabel tried to sort out hard facts from vague suspicions, with little success.
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Its record provides hard evidence to support his picture of a service in rude health rather than decline.
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Nothing in the way of hard facts, in any event.
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There are surely many answers to this question, not one of which is impeccably established by hard evidence.
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There is no hard evidence of files spirited away and even if they were, nobody knows whether they contain anything sinister.
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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
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Many people believe surgery is the only answer. In point of fact, a change in diet is often enough.
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Comrade Preobrazhensky preaches abstraction from politics but in point of fact, apart from politics, there is absolutely nothing in the work.
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Congar had in point of fact expressed himself cautiously enough, yet several of his books were proscribed.
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It was clearly something more than a mere mortal storm and in point of fact Juno was back of it.
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This has, in point of fact, always struck me as behaviour verging on the pathological.
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What do I say, in point of fact?
it's a matter of fact (that)
stick to the point/subject/facts
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"Please stick to the facts," said the judge.
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But caution is required where miracles come into play; let us stick to the facts.
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Try to stick to the subject of the row rather than bringing up 25 years' worth of misdemeanours.
stretch the truth/facts
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Reporters sometimes stretch the facts to catch a reader's eye.
the bare facts
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After relating the bare facts of the suicide decades later, Dan looked away, shuddering to keep his composure.
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Loretta peered at the bare facts of Puddephat's life.
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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
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Gentry still owed Mr Tilly $7,000, a fact he failed to mention when he was arrested.
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He's never tried to hide the fact that he spent time in jail.
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I'm not interested in your opinions - I just want to know the facts.
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It's important that young people learn the facts about drugs.
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It is a fact that the world is round.
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The book is full of interesting facts about plant life.
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The most important thing is to find out what the facts are and put the scandal behind us.
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You need to back up your theory with one or two hard facts.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Although her poems appear short and simple, they in fact possess an ever-deepening complexity.
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At least if you had no reason to think either would in fact allow more abortions?
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Confucianism was above all, in fact , the expression of a particular caste, the educated class known as mandarins.
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In fact house prices have reached such proportions in some areas that many engaged couples have had to postpone their weddings.
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In fact the Acapulco is a good all round Club base.
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In fact the company says that making Ingres secure involves only around a 3% addition to the product in terms of code.
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In fact , no one will admit to being the slightest bit nervous about the lift.
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The fact is, this is a business deal.