Etymologically
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factual

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 02:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈfæk.(t)ʃ(ʊ)əl/, /ˈfæk.tj(ʊ)əl/[1]
  • US: /ˈfæk.tʃ(u)əl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English fact + -ual, on the model of actual;[2][3][4][5][6] Dictionary.com names effectual as a model too.[7] fact is factum (“a deed, a thing done”), the neuter past participle of faciō (“to do”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to facts, of the nature of fact: 1820–32, in Coleridge's Marginalia.[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1834,[3][5] and Dictionary.com to 1825–35.[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense "having a basis in fact, accurate, real" is recorded from 1846, in De Quincey.[2] From 1855 the factual was used as a noun for that which is factual, actuality.[2] The Shorter Oxford dates the word to the mid 19th century.[6] In 1941 it was first applied to films, and later mainly to television programmes, that are documentary rather than fictional.[2]

Timeline

  • 1820–32 – relating to facts, in Coleridge.[2]
  • 1834 – Etymonline's and Merriam-Webster's date.[3][5]
  • 1846 – based on fact, accurate, real.[2]
  • 1855 – the factual, actuality.[2]
  • 1941 – of films and television, documentary.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, concerned with or made up of facts: a factual report of the meeting.[9][5][2]
  2. Based on fact; real, actual or accurate.[9][2]
  3. Of films or television programmes: documentary, not fictional.[2]

Word family

  • factuality
  • factually
  • factualness
  • counterfactual
  • factualism
  • nonfactual
  • unfactual
  • de facto
  • fact
  • facticity
  • factive
  • actual
  • effectual
  • factitious

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins