COUNTERFACTUAL Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

counterfactual

adjective

Definition of counterfactual

as in erroneous

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of counterfactual Mandatory frontier-model approval simultaneously fails the targeting, counterfactual durability, and enforceability tests. — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 15 May 2026 In our counterfactual future, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay in South America’s southern cone, so close to Antarctica, have to adapt to some of the harshest effects of the widening hole in the ozone. — Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026 In Dark Matter, a parallel-universe version of Chicago as a desolate wasteland is more obviously counterfactual—and thus less uncanny—than a parallel universe in which the main character’s wife had not given up her career as an artist to have children. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025 Such speculations can be amusing and interesting but, like much counterfactual history, they cannot be tested. — Literary Hub, 19 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for counterfactual

Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterfactual

Adjective

The source said the Post’s report that such a conversation had been arranged was erroneous.

— Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 3 Aug. 2026
Sometimes vehicles are called back for fixes as minor as changing a few pages in a vehicle’s owner’s manual that were either missing or contained erroneous information.

— Jim Gorzelany, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

Definition of erroneous

Adjective

This little addendum—that politics mean nothing to the Bret Easton Ellis of 2023—is eminently untrue, as anyone who has listened to his podcast, which often turns to political commentary, will attest.

— Leo Lasdun, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2026
Seeing a lot of negative chatter out there, including claims that CPUs are not needed as much as thought in agentic AI (just untrue).

— Jim Cramer, CNBC, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of untrue

Adjective

In February, federal authorities launched an investigation into two federal immigration agents who appeared to have made untruthful statements under oath regarding a nonfatal shooting of an immigrant in Minneapolis in January.

— Hallie Golden, Chicago Tribune, 8 July 2026
This inquiry identified insufficient evidence to conclude that Garcia knowingly made an untruthful statement.

— Brian Maass, CBS News, 19 June 2026

Definition of untruthful

Adjective

Conversations need grounding as intuitive Moon in your 3rd House of Communication opposes illusory Neptune in your 9th House of Travel and Learning, so facts and visions compete.

— Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 22 June 2026
That is, real, not merely illusory, measures, so that the allure to breach peace for imagined gains is overshadowed.

— Keith Tidman, Baltimore Sun, 15 June 2026

Definition of illusory

Adjective

Schools received an email from a fictitious two-parent household with both a mother and father interested in enrolling a child.

— Kristy Buzard, The Conversation, 4 Aug. 2026
Twenty years later, Hughes would shoot some of his films at his alma mater, which would serve as the fictitious Shermer High School in the hits The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

— Al Shipley, SPIN, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of fictitious

Adjective

An analyzer may be accurate in the laboratory but slow or misleading in the field.

— Gregory Shahnovsky, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
The title and summary of a Florida property tax cut proposal to be placed on the November ballot contain political rhetoric and are misleading, and must be redrafted, a judge has ruled.

— South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sun Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of misleading

Browse Nearby Words

counterevidence

counterfactual

counterfeit

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Style

“Counterfactual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterfactual. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of counterfactual

adjective

Example Sentences

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