Definition of de facto
: in reality : actually
- became the leader de facto
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Origin and Etymology of de facto
borrowed from Medieval Latin, literally, "from the fact"
Definition of de facto
1
: actual;
especially
: being such in effect though not formally recognized
- a de facto state of war
- Whatever it says on the calendar, Florida has de facto summer.
- —E. L. Konigsburg
- has become the movement's de facto spokesperson
2
: exercising power as if legally constituted
- a de facto government
- the de facto head of state
3
: resulting from economic or social factors rather than from laws or actions of the state
- de facto segregation
Examples of de facto in a Sentence
with the death of his father, he became the de facto head of the family
Recent Examples of de facto from the Web
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Trump met last month with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto leader.
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Modern cinema's de facto Jesus, Jim Caviezel's starring role in Mel Gibson's controversial pic remains his career-defining role more than a decade after the fact.
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Linda Brown is now being honored both by those who recognize the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education as incomplete, and those who very much want to limit it to its original scope of de jure (as opposed to de facto) segregation.
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Mad Men’s Jared Harris, Outlander’s Tobias Menzies, Game of Thrones’s Ciarán Hinds—with Harris, as the de facto protagonist, acquitting himself particularly well.
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Cody plays on the ball more, stepping in as Nevada’s de facto point guard after a season-ending injury to teammate Lindsey Drew.
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President Donald Trump spoke to Qatar’s emir and the crown princes (and de facto rulers) of Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. in late February.
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Newman ripped him as an out-of-touch, de facto Republican and tried to tie him in ads to President Donald Trump.
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Brault and Stewart were her solo collaborators, and the middle movement's de facto trio sonata was beautifully balanced and well-paced.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'de facto.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of de facto
de facto Synonyms
Antonyms
conjectural, hypothetical, ideal, inexistent, nonexistent, platonic, possible, potential, suppositional, theoretical (also theoretic);
Near Antonyms
alleged, assumed, reputed, supposed;
conceived, envisaged, envisioned, imagined, pictured, visualized;
chimerical (also chimeric), fabled, fanciful, fictional, fictitious, illusory, legendary;
fabricated, fake, imaginary, invented, made-up, make-believe, pretend, romantic;
Related Words
attested, authenticated, confirmed, demonstrated, established, proven, substantiated, valid, validated, verified;
incontestable, incontrovertible, indisputable, indubitable, inescapable, irrefutable, undeniable, unquestionable;
believable, convincing, literal, realistic, unmistakable, verifiable;
authentic, bona fide, real-life, real-world;
absolute, certain, final, hard, objective, palpable, positive, substantial, tangible;
Other Legal Terms
Law Dictionary
Origin and Etymology of de facto
Medieval Latin, literally, from the fact
legal Definition of de facto
1
: actual;
especially
: being such in effect though not formally recognized — see also de facto segregation at segregation
2
: exercising power as if legally constituted or authorized
- a de facto government
- a de facto judge
Learn More about de facto
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for de facto Nglish: Translation of de facto for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of de facto for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
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