fait accompli
/ˌfeɪt.əˈkɔm.pli/
fait accompli noun: something which has already happened, before those affected had the chance to raise objections or queries; especially, such a thing that cannot be undone.
Noun
fait accompli (plural faits accomplis)
- Something which has already happened, before those affected had the chance to raise objections or queries; especially, such a thing that cannot be undone.
- Thanks to a bureaucratic fait accompli, the demolition was already approved and has already started.
- Mr. Quiverful's appointment to the hospital was, however, a fait accompli, and Mr. Harding's acquiescence in that appointment was not less so.1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Slope’s Parting Interview with the Signora”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 272
- An action or establishment that cannot be undone.
- Near-synonyms: done deal, water under the bridge
- The introduction of white clover to the Americas is a fait accompli.
- Synonyms:
- done deal, water under the bridge
fait accompli meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Arabic and Persian
fait accompli in Tamil
- தீர்ந்த காரியம், முடிவுற்ற செயல்
fait accompli in Urdu
- عمل انجام شدہ
fait accompli in Arabic
- an accomplished fact
- أَمْر وَاقِع ʔamr wāqiʕ
fait accompli in Persian
- an accomplished fact
- عمل انجامشده
More languagesFewer languages
- fait accompli in Thai
- เรื่องที่ยุติแล้ว rʉ̂ʉang-tîi-yút-dtì-lɛ́ɛo
Examples of fait accompli in a sentence
- “In quarters where the fait accompli is an object of solicitude,” said Yeovil.1913, Saki, When William Came, Chapter VII:
- [Hal] Varian awards surveillance capitalists the privilege of the experimenter's role, and this is presented as another casual fait accompli.2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 10, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:
Synonyms of fait accompli
Forms of fait accompli
| plural | faits accomplis |
|---|
Origin of fait accompli
Unadapted borrowing from French fait accompli.
Questions about fait accompli
- What does fait accompli mean?
- Fait accompli means something which has already happened, before those affected had the chance to raise objections or queries; especially, such a thing that cannot be undone.
- What is fait accompli in Tamil?
- Fait accompli in Tamil is தீர்ந்த காரியம், முடிவுற்ற செயல். See Fait accompli meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use fait accompli in a sentence?
- “In quarters where the fait accompli is an object of solicitude,” said Yeovil.
- What part of speech is fait accompli?
- Fait accompli is a noun.
- How do you pronounce fait accompli?
- Fait accompli is pronounced /ˌfeɪt.əˈkɔm.pli/.
- What is the plural of fait accompli?
- The plural of fait accompli is faits accomplis.
Words near fait accompli in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fait accompli (page history and authors); fait accompli (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fait accompli (Urdu Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-fait accompli.wav.
Cite this entry: “fait accompli.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fait_accompli. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
