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MATTER OF FACT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A matter that is an actual fact or is demonstrable as a fact
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("matter of fact" is a kind of...):
fact (a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A disputed factual contention that is generally left for a jury to decide
Synonyms:
matter of fact; question of fact
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("matter of fact" is a kind of...):
head; question (the subject matter at issue)
Context examples:
As a matter of fact, the drawn curtain disclosed nothing but three or four suits of clothes hanging from a line of pegs.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His remaining behind and his French name were really the only two points which could suggest suspicion; but, as a matter of fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and his people are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you and I are.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As a matter of fact, that screw was not used.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet without embarking on another perilous undertaking.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
About that. As a matter of fact you needn't bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They're real.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
As a matter of fact he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
