Word.ws English Dictionary

matter of fact

matter of fact noun: an issue concerning the factual circumstances of a cause of action that is to be tried or proved; an allegation forming the basis of a claim or defense, as opposed to a matter of law. Also the ellipsis of as a matter of fact.

Noun

matter of fact (plural matters of fact)

  1. An issue concerning the factual circumstances of a cause of action that is to be tried or proved; an allegation forming the basis of a claim or defense, as opposed to a matter of law.
    • Whether he left his house on the night of the murder is a matter of fact.
    • Matters of fact are issues for a jury, while matters of law are for the court.
  2. (broadly) A point of fact; a claim or statement about (empirical) facts, as opposed to conjecture or opinion.
    • It’s a matter of fact that I came into work yesterday.
    • And all that I pretend to in this ensueing Treatise, is only to poynt with the finger from the Text unto the mater of fact, shewing how here & there, these & those words of the Text were fulfilled.1690, John Butler, Bellua Marina: or the Monstrous Beast Which Arose out of the Sea […], page 3

Also used as

matter of fact is also the ellipsis of as a matter of fact.

Forms of matter of fact

pluralmatters of fact

Origin of matter of fact

First attested in the 16th century.

Words formed from matter of fact

Questions about matter of fact

What does matter of fact mean?
Matter of fact means an issue concerning the factual circumstances of a cause of action that is to be tried or proved; an allegation forming the basis of a claim or defense, as opposed to a matter of law.
What part of speech is matter of fact?
Matter of fact is a noun.
What is the plural of matter of fact?
The plural of matter of fact is matters of fact.

Words near matter of fact in the dictionary

  1. matteness
  2. matter
  3. matter at hand
  4. Matter of Britain
  5. matter of course
  6. matter of fact
  7. matter of factly
  8. matter of law
  9. matter of life and death
  10. matter of life or death
  11. matter of record

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matter of 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-matter of fact.ogg.

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