as in erroneous
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Recent Examples of counterfactual
The polio vaccines prevented 29 million cases of paralytic polio between 1960 and 2021, compared with a counterfactual world with no vaccines, according to researchers’ estimates.
—
Soph Warnes, CNN, 2 Feb. 2025
The former calls for a counterfactual view of how testing works; the latter calls for political will and policy ideas not currently in evidence.
—Peter Greene, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024
From those counterfactual questions, the adult Roth spun a tour de force of memory and history.
—New York Times, 8 July 2024
Apparently getting an intrinsic reward for others’ wellbeing will take coordination only so far, without counterfactual reasoning to tell you if your actions are directly responsible for others’ behavior.
—Matthew Hutson, IEEE Spectrum, 17 June 2019
See All Example Sentences for counterfactual
Soph Warnes, CNN, 2 Feb. 2025
The former calls for a counterfactual view of how testing works; the latter calls for political will and policy ideas not currently in evidence.
—Peter Greene, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024
From those counterfactual questions, the adult Roth spun a tour de force of memory and history.
—New York Times, 8 July 2024
Apparently getting an intrinsic reward for others’ wellbeing will take coordination only so far, without counterfactual reasoning to tell you if your actions are directly responsible for others’ behavior.
—Matthew Hutson, IEEE Spectrum, 17 June 2019
See All Example Sentences for counterfactual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterfactual
Adjective
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Vedra and other debt law experts said a high rate of default judgments indicates a system that favors the pursuers over the pursued — and increases the chances someone will be harmed by an erroneous bill.—
Rae Ellen Bichell,
Fortune,
29 Sep. 2025
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And in 2010’s Flash Crash, algorithmic trading bots created a feedback loop of erroneous trades, wiping out nearly $1 trillion in market value in minutes.—
Steve Booren,
Denver Post,
21 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Even in cases where the accusations are untrue, the people caught in the campaigns have faced harassment, threats and lasting fallout, a pattern that experts say is unlikely to change.—
Mary Spicuzza,
jsonline.com,
25 Sep. 2025
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These statements are harmful and untrue, Chabot said.—
Madeline Mitchell,
USA Today,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Officers making contact with Hyatt noted an odor of intoxicants, staggering gait, confusion and illogical, untruthful responses to questions, according to the motion.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
18 Aug. 2025
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The deficient vice of integrity is being fake, untruthful, inconsistent, unprincipled, and manipulative.—
Mary Crossan,
Forbes.com,
17 July 2025
Adjective
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Yet these successes were at best partial, and perhaps illusory.—
JENNIFER KAVANAGH,
Foreign Affairs,
30 Sep. 2025
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Everyone has their own analogy to describe Labour’s illusory power.—
Sam Knight,
New Yorker,
21 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Garcia-Hernandez allegedly has convictions for giving fictitious information, evading arrest, driving while intoxicated and fleeing police.—
Lauren Villagran,
USA Today,
26 Sep. 2025
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Supervisors Janet Nguyen and Don Wagner raised concerns at the board’s Tuesday meeting about fictitious registrations following recent news of a dog that was registered to vote in two recent state elections and a lawsuit by the federal government over noncitizen voter records.—
Claire Wang,
Oc Register,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The film stages its riot of activity as hard-nosed honesty, but its portrait is ultimately as ginned-up and inexact as the fictional news broadcast’s lurid prying.—
Richard Lawson,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 2025
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That medicine is an inexact science.—
Polly Atkin
August 26,
Literary Hub,
26 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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At the same time, social media sleuths shared inaccurate information and a man was detained after allegedly trying to drive through a barricade near the church.—
Dave Boucher,
Freep.com,
29 Sep. 2025
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Others were related to the actual content of the courses, such as a school that used a curriculum that included inaccurate information about permissible blood-alcohol levels for drivers and another school that provided students with answers to final exam questions in advance.—
William Melhado,
Sacbee.com,
26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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To be fair, that number is slightly misleading.—
Shreyas Laddha,
Kansas City Star,
30 Sep. 2025
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But the content, murky and misleading, is designed to trick Californians into voting for a power grab.—
Laura Koval,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Counterfactual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterfactual. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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