factual

1 restricted to or based on fact a factual biography of George Washington that scoffs at the story about the cherry tree Synonyms documentary, hard, historical, literal, matter-of-fact, nonfictional, objective, true Related Words actual, authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, right; documented, established; confirmable, reliable, supportable, sustainable, verifiable; demonstrable, provable; incontestable, incontrovertible, indisputable, irrefutable, undeniable, unquestionable; plain, simple; certain, undoubted Near Antonyms hypothetical, speculative, theoretical (also theoretic); apocryphal, unauthentic, undocumented; chimerical (also chimeric), fabulous, fanciful, fantastic (also fantastical), imaginary, imagined, invented, legendary, made-up, make-believe, mythical (or mythic), pretend; embroidered, exaggerated; insupportable, unsupportable Antonyms fictional, fictionalized, fictitious, nondocumentary, nonfactual, nonhistorical, unhistorical

2 existing in fact and not merely as a possibility a serious scientist, she is only interested in factual phenomena and lets others speculate about the hypothetical Synonyms concrete, de facto, effective, existent, actual, genuine, real, sure-enough, true, veryRelated 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; authoritative, certifiable, certifiedNear 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; abstract, symbolic, unreal; virtualAntonyms conjectural, hypothetical, ideal, inexistent, nonexistent, platonic, possible, potential, suppositional, theoretical (also theoretic)