NOUN (4)

1. a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred;
- Example: "first you must collect all the facts of the case"

2. a statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened;
- Example: "he supported his argument with an impressive array of facts"

3. an event known to have happened or something known to have existed;
- Example: "your fears have no basis in fact"
- Example: "how much of the story is fact and how much fiction is hard to tell"

4. a concept whose truth can be proved;
- Example: "scientific hypotheses are not facts"

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fact \Fact\ (f[a^]kt), n. [L. factum, fr. facere to make or do.
   Cf. Feat, Affair, Benefit, Defect, Fashion, and
   -fy.]
   1. A doing, making, or preparing. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            A project for the fact and vending
            Of a new kind of fucus, paint for ladies. --B.
                                                  Jonson.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. An effect produced or achieved; anything done or that
      comes to pass; an act; an event; a circumstance.
      [1913 Webster]

            What might instigate him to this devilish fact, I am
            not able to conjecture.               --Evelyn.
      [1913 Webster]

            He who most excels in fact of arms.   --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Reality; actuality; truth; as, he, in fact, excelled all
      the rest; the fact is, he was beaten.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The assertion or statement of a thing done or existing;
      sometimes, even when false, improperly put, by a transfer
      of meaning, for the thing done, or supposed to be done; a
      thing supposed or asserted to be done; as, history abounds
      with false facts.
      [1913 Webster]

            I do not grant the fact.              --De Foe.
      [1913 Webster]

            This reasoning is founded upon a fact which is not
            true.                                 --Roger Long.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: The term fact has in jurisprudence peculiar uses in
         contrast with law; as, attorney at law, and attorney in
         fact; issue in law, and issue in fact. There is also a
         grand distinction between law and fact with reference
         to the province of the judge and that of the jury, the
         latter generally determining the fact, the former the
         law. --Burrill --Bouvier.
         [1913 Webster]

   Accessary before the fact, or Accessary after the fact.
      See under Accessary.

   Matter of fact, an actual occurrence; a verity; used
      adjectively: of or pertaining to facts; prosaic;
      unimaginative; as, a matter-of-fact narration.

   Syn: Act; deed; performance; event; incident; occurrence;
        circumstance.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

fact
    n 1: a piece of information about circumstances that exist or
         events that have occurred; "first you must collect all the
         facts of the case"
    2: a statement or assertion of verified information about
       something that is the case or has happened; "he supported his
       argument with an impressive array of facts"
    3: an event known to have happened or something known to have
       existed; "your fears have no basis in fact"; "how much of the
       story is fact and how much fiction is hard to tell"
    4: a concept whose truth can be proved; "scientific hypotheses
       are not facts"

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 January 2023):

fact

    The kind of clause
   used in logic programming which has no subgoals and so is
   always true (always succeeds).  E.g.

    wet(water).
    male(denis).

   This is in contrast to a rule which only succeeds if all its
   subgoals do.  Rules usually contain logic variables, facts
   rarely do, except for oddities like "equal(X,X).".

   (1996-10-20)


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 January 2023):

Fully Automated Compiling Technique
FACT
Honeywell-800 Business Compiler

    (FACT, "Honeywell-800 Business
   Compiler") A pre-COBOL English-like business data
   processing language for the Honeywell 800, developed
   ca. 1959.

   [Sammet 1969, p. 327].

   (1994-12-01)