de facto

adverb de fac·to \ di-ˈfak-(ˌ)tō , dā- , dē- \

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

Examples: de facto in a Sentence

Definition of de facto

: in reality : actually

became the leader de facto

Origin and Etymology of de facto

borrowed from Medieval Latin, literally, "from the fact"

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1601

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

de facto

adjective

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

See de facto defined for English-language learners

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

But inflation has been picking up, putting pressure on the central bank to dial back the de facto money printing.

— New York Times, "Net Neutrality Goes Away, and a Ruling in the AT&T-Time Warner Case," 10 June 2018
The military says fighting began early Sunday when soldiers intercepted a group of insurgents along the highly militarized de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

— Fox News, "India army: Soldiers kill 6 militants along Kashmir frontier," 10 June 2018
In a memoir published last month, Mr. Thae wrote that Pyongyang’s goal has long been to be recognized as a de facto nuclear state, like India and Pakistan.

— jonathan cheng, WSJ, "Trump and North Korea’s Kim Land in Singapore for Historic Summit," 10 June 2018
As for the North Korean military, Kim Su Gil in May was appointed the new chairman of the KPA’s General Political Bureau, thus its de facto top brass hat.

— charlie campbell / beijing, Time, "All Signs Suggest North Korea's Kim Jong Un Really Wants to Make a Deal," 8 June 2018
The then-San Francisco 49er was among the first players to kneel during the 2016-2017 season and has become the de facto figurehead of what is now known as the #TakeAKnee movement.

— aj willingham, CNN, "Why we're not hearing much from Colin Kaepernick on the NFL anthem decision," 24 May 2018
Many are de facto non-profits, points out Peter Atherton of Cornwall Insight, an energy consultancy.

— The Economist, "Robin Hood Energy, the company bringing power to the people," 3 May 2018
Although Arizona permits fully driverless vehicles, the Uber involved in Sunday’s crash had a safety driver, a de facto human fail-safe for the machine, behind the wheel.

— pete bigelow, Car and Driver, "First Death Brings Unanswered Questions, Rattles the Self-Driving Future," 20 Mar. 2018
The de facto export ban, which only allowed a few exceptions, was imposed in the aftermath of a 1973 to 1974 oil embargo led by Saudi Arabia.

— javier blas and david marino, Houston Chronicle, "U.S. crude exports hit big time as supertanker heads for China," 19 Feb. 2018

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.