facticity

noun

fac·​tic·​i·​ty fak-ˈti-sə-tē How to pronounce facticity (audio)
: the quality or state of being a fact

Examples of facticity in a Sentence

the facticity of the information is not at issue; it's whether something so private should ever be made public
Recent Examples on the Web Caruth’s determination to cleave simultaneously to the idea both that the traumatic memory is the only historic fact the individual possesses and that this facticity remains incapable of adequate representation is paradoxical bordering on the perverse. Will Self, Harper's Magazine, 23 Nov. 2021 This new discipline borrowed features from philology and belles lettres—period specialization and close reading, respectively—but abjured their emphasis on facticity and appreciation in favor of a new goal: interpretation. Evan Kindley, The New York Review of Books, 16 Feb. 2023 Conversant with digital media — iPhone animation, in Ms. Sillman’s case — yet committed to the facticity of paint. Jason Farago, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2020 An effective story must have the unity and lyricism of a poem while giving the comforting facticity of a novel. Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2020 Molina seems to be trying to prove a point here, something about what can be lost by emphasizing the facticity and evidentiary value of archival research. Jacob Silverman, New Republic, 16 Aug. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'facticity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

fact + -icity (as in authenticity), perhaps after German Faktizität

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of facticity was in 1869

Dictionary Entries Near facticity

Cite this Entry

“Facticity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facticity. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.

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