Fact
A fact (derived from the Latin factum, see below) is something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be proven to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable experiments.
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Famous quotes containing the word fact:
“The animal is ignorant of the fact that he knows. The man is aware of the fact that he is ignorant.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“A fact is like a sack—it won’t stand up if it’s empty. To make it stand up, first you have to put in it all the reasons and feelings that caused it in the first place.”
—Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)
“How often should a woman be pregnant? Continually, or hardly ever? Or must there be a certain number of pregnancy anniversaries established by fashion? What do you, at the age of forty-three, have to say on the subject? Is it a fact that the laws of nature, or of the country, or of propriety, have ordained this time of life for sterility?”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)