Word.ws English Dictionary

alternative fact

alternative fact noun: something presented as a fact for reasons of political expediency; a fiction, a falsehood, a lie.

Noun

alternative fact (plural alternative facts)

  1. Something presented as a fact for reasons of political expediency; a fiction, a falsehood, a lie.
    • They are creating their own facts, but one need not be in Government to create alternative facts.2017 February 25, R. E. Guyson Mayers, “A GUY"S VIEW: Season of discontent”, in Barbados Advocate
    • According to Donald Trump we live in an era of "fake news" where his "alternative facts" should be swallowed whole, and without scrutiny.2017 March 3, “Private Sydney: Celebrities quick to present their own 'alternative facts'”, in The Sydney Morning Herald
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see alternative, fact.
    • That Newton was an empirical scientist is a fact. An alternative fact is that he was an alchemist.

Examples of alternative fact in a sentence

  • Prime ministers have not been immune to spreading alternative facts.2017 March 3, Chantal Hébert, “It's not just Donald Trump who shifts the truth, Canada's politicians have been using alternative facts for...
  • Association of Herpes Viral Infections, Antiherpetic Therapy, and Dementia: Real or Alternative Fact?2018 March 26, “Association of Herpes Viral Infections, Antiherpetic Therapy, and Dementia: Real or Alternative Fact?”, in...

Synonyms of alternative fact

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of alternative fact

pluralalternative facts
alternative formalt-fact

Origin of alternative fact

This term gained prominence after it was used by Kellyanne Conway in January 2017 and widely repeated in the US media.

Questions about alternative fact

What does alternative fact mean?
Alternative fact means something presented as a fact for reasons of political expediency; a fiction, a falsehood, a lie.
How do you use alternative fact in a sentence?
Prime ministers have not been immune to spreading alternative facts.
What part of speech is alternative fact?
Alternative fact is a noun.
What is the plural of alternative fact?
The plural of alternative fact is alternative facts.

Words near alternative fact in the dictionary

  1. alternative dispute resolution
  2. alternative dispute resolutions
  3. alternative energies
  4. alternative energy
  5. alternative episcopal oversight
  6. alternative fact
  7. alternative facts
  8. alternative fashion
  9. alternative fertilization
  10. alternative fuel
  11. alternative fuels

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alternative fact (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: alternative fact US.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Rho9998-alternative fact.wav.

Cite this entry: “alternative fact.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alternative_fact. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.