different between fact vs faction

English

Etymology

From Latin factum (“a deed, act, exploit; in Medieval Latin also state, condition, circumstance”), neuter of factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faci? (“do, make”). Doublet of feat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

fact (countable and uncountable, plural facts)

1. Something actual as opposed to invented.
2. Something which is real.

   Gravity is a fact, not a theory.

3. Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.

4. An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of experts.

5. Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.

6. (databases) An individual value or measurement at the lowest level of granularity in a data warehouse.
7. (archaic) Action; the realm of action.
8. (law, obsolete except in set phrases) A wrongful or criminal deed.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:

     She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact, / Against that nation [...].

9. (obsolete) A feat or meritorious deed.

Antonyms

• (Something actual): fiction

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• value
• opinion
• belief

References

• fact at OneLook Dictionary Search
• fact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fact in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "Conway: 'Alternative Facts'" Merriam-Webster's Trend Watch Merriam-Webster. 2017.

Interjection

fact

1. Used before making a statement to introduce it as a trustworthy one.

Anagrams

• acft

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fæk.??n/, /?fæk.?n?/
• Rhymes: -æk??n

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French faction, from Latin facti? (“a group of people acting together, a political faction”), noun of process from perfect passive participle factus, from faci? (“do, make”). Doublet of fashion.

Noun

faction (countable and uncountable, plural factions)

1. (countable) A group of people, especially within a political organization, which expresses a shared belief or opinion different from people who are not part of the group.
2. (uncountable) Strife; discord.
   • 1805, Johann Georg Cleminius, Englisches Lesebuch für Kaufleute, pg. 188:

     Publick [sic] affairs soon fell into the utmost confusion, and in this state of faction and perplexity, the island continued, until its re-capture by the French in 1779.

   • 2001, Odd Magne Bakke, "Concord and Peace": A Rhetorical Analysis of the First Letter of Clement With an Emphasis on the Language of Unity and Sedition, publ. Mohr Siebeck, ?ISBN, pg. 89:

     He asks the audience if they believe that they will be more loved by the gods if the city is in a state of faction than if they govern the city with good order and concord.

Derived terms

• factional
• factionalize

Related terms

Translations

See also

• splinter group

Etymology 2

Blend of fact +? fiction.

Noun

faction (uncountable)

1. A form of literature, film etc., that treats real people or events as if they were fiction; a mix of fact and fiction

Derived terms

• science faction

Related terms

• fact
• fiction

See also

• Non-fiction novel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin facti?, facti?nem. Compare façon, which is inherited rather than borrowed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fak.sj??/

Noun

faction f (plural factions)

1. act of keeping watch
2. a watchman
3. (politics) a faction; specifically one which causes trouble

Further reading

• “faction” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).