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 (Australia):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (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

   While it is largely recognized 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
• de facto partner
• de facto union

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)
• Hindi: सत्यानुसार (satyānusār)
• 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 (es), de fecho (desus.), de hecho (es)
• 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 (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (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 [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), 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/, (traditional) /dɛ ˈfak.to/
• Rhymes: -akto
• Hyphenation: de‧fàc‧to

Adverb

de facto

1. de facto

   Antonym: de iure

Adjective

de facto (invariable)

1. de facto

   Synonym: di fatto

   Antonym: de iure

Further reading

• “de facto”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈdeː ˈfak.toː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈdɛː ˈfak.to]

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: di fatto, → 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^[5] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “de facto”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[6] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• de fato (Brazil)

Adverb

de facto (not comparable) (European Portuguese spelling)

1. truly
2. indeed
3. in fact

Further reading

• “de facto”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Adverb

de facto

1. (modal) de facto; in fact

Adjective

de facto (invariable)

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), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025