de facto

See also: defacto

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dē factō (literally “according to fact”), from dē (“according to”) + ablative of factum (“fact, deed, act”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdeɪˈfæktəʊ/, /dɪˈfæktəʊ/, /ˌdiːˈfæktəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdeɪˈfæktoʊ/, /dəˈfæktoʊ/, /ˌdiˈfæktoʊ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adverb

de facto (not comparable)

1. (modal) In actual use or existence, regardless of official or legal status.

   Synonyms: in fact, in practice, factually, practically

   Coordinate terms: de jure, legally, legalistically; see also Thesaurus:actually

Adjective

de facto (not comparable)

1. In actual use or existence, regardless of official or legal status.

   Coordinate terms: de jure; real, true; see also Thesaurus:genuine

   Although the United States currently has no official language, it is largely monolingual with English being the de facto national language.

   While it is largely agreed that Ukraine holds de jure sovereignty on Crimea, Russia exercises de facto administration on the peninsula.

   • 1995, David Wolff, “Russia Finds Its Limits: Crossing Borders into Manchuria”, in Stephen Kotkin, David Wolff, editors, Rediscovering Russia in Asia : Siberia and the Russian Far East‎^[1], M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 45:

     To avoid conflicts (and associated delays and distractions) with other ministries' minions in Vladivostok, Chief Engineer Iugovich moved his headquarters to Harbin in 1898. Within fifteen years, a transportation hub with more than 100,000 inhabitants had sprung up. Its size and importance were commensurate with its de facto role as the provincial capital of Russian Manchuria.

   • 2021 November 18, “Taiwan deploys first advanced F-16V fighter squadron”, in France 24‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 November 2021:

     Taiwan held a ceremony on Thursday to commission the first squadron of its most advanced F-16 fighter, a US-made jet that will strengthen the island's defences against threats by China.
     President Tsai Ing-wen oversaw the ceremony at an air base in the southern city of Chiayi alongside Sandra Oudkirk, Washington's de facto ambassador to Taiwan.

Alternative forms

• defacto (Australian)

Derived terms

• de facto corporation

Descendants

• Russian: де-фа́кто (de-fákto)

Translations

in fact or in practice

• Arabic: بحكم الأمر الواقع
• Armenian: փաստորեն (hy) (pʻastoren), դե ֆակտո (hy) (de fakto)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 事實上／事实上 (zh) (shìshíshàng), 實質上／实质上 (zh)

• Corsican: de facto, di fattu
• Dutch: de facto (nl)
• Esperanto: laŭfakte (adverb), laŭfakta (adjective)
• Finnish: de facto (fi), tosiasiallisesti (fi)
• French: de facto (fr), de fait (fr)
• Galician: de facto (gl), de feito (gl)
• German: de facto (de)
• Greek: εκ των πραγμάτων (el) (ek ton pragmáton), ντε φάκτο (el) (nte fákto)
• Ido: aktuala (io)
• Japanese: デファクト (defakuto), 事実上の (ja) (じじつじょうの, jijitsujō no)
• Persian: دفاکتو (de-fâkto), بالفعل (fa) (belfe'l)
• Polish: de facto (pl)
• Russian: де-фа́кто (ru) (dɛ-fákto), факти́ческий (ru) (faktíčeskij)
• Spanish: de facto, de fecho, de hecho
• Swedish: de facto (sv)
• Turkish: defakto (tr), fiilen (tr) (adverb), fiilî (tr) (adjective)

Noun

de facto (plural de factos)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A legally undeclared spouse; a partner in a spousal relationship which is not officially declared as a marriage, comparable to a common law husband or wife.
   • 1984, Sotirios Sarantakos, Living Together in Australia‎^[3], page 141:

     One of the vendors was simple and straight; he said that it was his policy not to rent a house to de factos.

   • 1984, Australian Senate, Senate Weekly Hansard‎^[4], volume 105, page 2213:

     An incidental sideline to this little farce, I suppose we can call it, is that the Opposition, in this policy, seems to have reversed its so often stated policy in this place on de factos.

   • 2008, David de Vaus, Chapter 15: Australian Families: Social and Demographic Patterns, in Charles B. Hennon, Stephan M. Wilson (editors), Families in a Global Context, 2011, page 383,

     The parental rights and responsibilities of de factos are the same as for legally married parents but, because property and maintenance of de factos is a state responsibility, there are differences between married and de factos in some states.

Hyponyms

• (legally undeclared spouse): common law husband/wife

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dē factō (literally “according to fact”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de fak.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

de facto (invariable)

1. de facto

   Synonym: de fait

Adverb

de facto

1. de facto

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dē factō (literally “according to fact”), from dē (“according to”) + ablative of factum (“fact, deed, act”)

Phrase

de facto

1. de facto

Further reading

• “de facto” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dē factō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de ˈfak.to/
• Rhymes: -akto
• Hyphenation: de‧fàc‧to

Adverb

de facto

1. de facto

   Antonym: de iure

Adjective

de facto (invariable)

1. de facto

   Antonym: de iure

Further reading

• de facto in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /deː ˈfak.toː/, [d̪eː ˈfäkt̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /de ˈfak.to/, [d̪ɛː ˈfäkt̪o]

Prepositional phrase

dē factō

1. (This entry is a descendant hub.) according to fact

Descendants

• → English: de facto
• → French: de facto
• → German: de facto
• → Indonesian: de facto
• → Italian: de facto
• → Hungarian: de facto, de faktó
• → Polish: de facto
• → Spanish: de facto
• Romanian: de fapt

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dē factō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛˈfak.tɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aktɔ
• Syllabification: de fac‧to

Adverb

de facto (not comparable)

1. de facto (in fact or in practice)

   Antonym: de iure

Particle

de facto

1. (idiomatic) actually, in fact

   Synonyms: tak naprawdę, w gruncie rzeczy, w istocie, w istocie rzeczy, w rzeczywistości

Further reading

• de facto in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• de facto in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• de fato (Brazil)

Adverb

de facto (not comparable) (European Portuguese spelling)

1. truly
2. indeed
3. in fact

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de ˈfaɡto/ [d̪e ˈfaɣ̞.t̪o]
• Syllabification: de fac‧to

Adverb

de facto

1. truly
2. indeed
3. in fact

Adjective

de facto (feminine de facta, masculine plural des factos, feminine plural des factas)

1. de facto; In actual use or existence, regardless of official or legal status.

Further reading

• “de facto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16