See counterfactual in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "counterfactualism"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "counterfactualist"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "counterfactuality"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "counterfactualize"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "counterfactually"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "counterfactualness"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "counter-",
"3": "factual"
},
"expansion": "counter- + factual",
"name": "pre"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From counter- + factual.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "counterfactual (not comparable)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "29 19 16 28 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "28 9 25 24 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with counter-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
169,
183
]
],
"ref": "2021, Eliot Higgins, We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News, page 115:",
"text": "a leaderless disinformation campaign, with claims leaping from conspiracy theorists to state propagandists to alternative-media outlets and back—an ecosystem I call the Counterfactual Community.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contrary to known or agreed facts; untrue."
],
"id": "en-counterfactual-en-adj-W-xNNMsA",
"links": [
[
"Contrary",
"contrary#English"
],
[
"known",
"known"
],
[
"agreed",
"agreed"
],
[
"fact",
"fact"
],
[
"untrue",
"untrue"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "contrafactual"
}
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "paikkansapitämätön"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "tosiasioiden vastainen"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktuaalinen"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrefactuel"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "ka",
"lang": "Georgian",
"lang_code": "ka",
"roman": "pakṭebis sac̣inaaɣmdego",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "ფაქტების საწინააღმდეგო"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktisch"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "hamis"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "valótlan"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktuális"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "a tényeknek ellentmondó"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "controfattuale"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "oc",
"lang": "Occitan",
"lang_code": "oc",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrafactual"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrfaktyczny"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrafatual"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "kontrafaktivnyj",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "контрафактивный"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrafactual"
},
{
"_dis1": "87 13",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktisk"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "29 19 16 28 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
116,
131
]
],
"ref": "2014 September 15, Martin Gayford, “There's more to Ming than a vase [print version: 16 August 2014, pp. R6–R7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), archived from the original on 15 Nov 2014:",
"text": "What would have happened if those great Chinese voyages [by Zheng He] had continued? It's one of those questions in counter-factual history about which it is impossible to be sure.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
4,
18
]
],
"ref": "2019 April 11, Marcel Theroux, “Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan review – intelligent mischief”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2019:",
"text": "The counterfactual 1982 of the novel plays variations on our historical record and contains clear allusions to the present.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Of or in comparison to a hypothetical state of the world."
],
"id": "en-counterfactual-en-adj-vfZx71-8",
"links": [
[
"comparison",
"comparison"
],
[
"hypothetical",
"hypothetical"
],
[
"state",
"state"
],
[
"world",
"world"
]
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊntɚˈfæktʃuəl/",
"tags": [
"Canada"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊn.tə(ɹ)ˈfæk.tʃu.əl/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "counterfactual"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "counter-",
"3": "factual"
},
"expansion": "counter- + factual",
"name": "pre"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From counter- + factual.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "counterfactuals",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "counterfactual (plural counterfactuals)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "alternate history"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "alternate universe"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "alternative fact"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "what if"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "what-if"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English links with manual fragments",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "29 19 16 28 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "28 9 25 24 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with counter-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts."
],
"id": "en-counterfactual-en-noun-k~F7I4it",
"links": [
[
"claim",
"claim"
],
[
"hypothesis",
"hypothesis"
],
[
"belief",
"belief"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "counterfact"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misapprehension"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misconception"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misunderstanding"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "falsehood"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misinformation"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "29 19 16 28 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "28 9 25 24 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with counter-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 28 18 41 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "25 23 17 33 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "24 22 17 35 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 23 18 38 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 21 18 39 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 22 17 38 7",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Georgian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 22 20 37 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "15 20 19 33 13",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 23 17 38 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 23 18 38 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Occitan translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "17 21 18 38 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "14 25 15 41 4",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 23 18 39 4",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "17 21 17 40 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 23 17 38 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "18 20 20 39 3",
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Alternate history",
"orig": "en:Alternate history",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "model#Noun"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "retrofuture"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
8,
23
]
],
"ref": "2004 September 5, Laura Miller, “Imagine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2021:",
"text": "Just as counterfactuals employ too much imagination to qualify as historical works, alternate history often labors under too great a load of artificial \"facts\" to take flight as fiction.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
28,
43
],
[
92,
107
]
],
"ref": "2010 September 1, Ross Douthat, “Iraq in the Long Run”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022, retrieved 15 Jul 2021:",
"text": "We can spin out complicated counterfactuals that justify the Iraq invasion, and complicated counterfactuals that make it look even worse.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
13,
27
]
],
"ref": "2015 December 3, Lee Drutman, “Here's the real reason we don't have gun reform”, in Vox, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2016:",
"text": "The implicit counterfactual — that these members would support gun control if not for the $1,000 they received from the NRA — seems unlikely to me.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
16,
31
]
],
"ref": "2016 February 11, Noah Berlatsky, quoting Neal Roese, “'What if?': Why we can't get enough of counterfactual shows”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2016:",
"text": "Roese also says counterfactuals can serve emotional purposes. You can think about how things could have been worse, and so feel better about yourself, and grateful for where you are.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
10,
24
]
],
"ref": "2021 May 14, Dashiell Young-Saver, “The Math of Ending the Pandemic: Exponential Growth and Decay”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 May 2021:",
"text": "Imagine a counterfactual in which we started relaxing restrictions at an even earlier time, just as the cases began to trend downward.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action."
],
"id": "en-counterfactual-en-noun-4ClfXSbU",
"links": [
[
"hypothetical",
"hypothetical"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Linguistics",
"orig": "en:Linguistics",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Philosophy",
"orig": "en:Philosophy",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "28 9 25 24 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with counter-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false."
],
"id": "en-counterfactual-en-noun-vOMhNwfr",
"links": [
[
"linguistics",
"linguistics"
],
[
"philosophy",
"philosophy"
],
[
"conditional",
"conditional"
],
[
"statement",
"statement"
],
[
"clause",
"clause"
],
[
"false",
"false"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(linguistics, philosophy) A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false."
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"linguistics",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊntɚˈfæktʃuəl/",
"tags": [
"Canada"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊn.tə(ɹ)ˈfæk.tʃu.əl/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "counterfactual"
}
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms prefixed with counter-",
"English uncomparable adjectives",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with Georgian translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Occitan translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"en:Alternate history"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "counterfactualism"
},
{
"word": "counterfactualist"
},
{
"word": "counterfactuality"
},
{
"word": "counterfactualize"
},
{
"word": "counterfactually"
},
{
"word": "counterfactualness"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "counter-",
"3": "factual"
},
"expansion": "counter- + factual",
"name": "pre"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From counter- + factual.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "counterfactual (not comparable)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
169,
183
]
],
"ref": "2021, Eliot Higgins, We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News, page 115:",
"text": "a leaderless disinformation campaign, with claims leaping from conspiracy theorists to state propagandists to alternative-media outlets and back—an ecosystem I call the Counterfactual Community.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contrary to known or agreed facts; untrue."
],
"links": [
[
"Contrary",
"contrary#English"
],
[
"known",
"known"
],
[
"agreed",
"agreed"
],
[
"fact",
"fact"
],
[
"untrue",
"untrue"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "contrafactual"
}
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
116,
131
]
],
"ref": "2014 September 15, Martin Gayford, “There's more to Ming than a vase [print version: 16 August 2014, pp. R6–R7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), archived from the original on 15 Nov 2014:",
"text": "What would have happened if those great Chinese voyages [by Zheng He] had continued? It's one of those questions in counter-factual history about which it is impossible to be sure.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
4,
18
]
],
"ref": "2019 April 11, Marcel Theroux, “Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan review – intelligent mischief”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2019:",
"text": "The counterfactual 1982 of the novel plays variations on our historical record and contains clear allusions to the present.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Of or in comparison to a hypothetical state of the world."
],
"links": [
[
"comparison",
"comparison"
],
[
"hypothetical",
"hypothetical"
],
[
"state",
"state"
],
[
"world",
"world"
]
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊntɚˈfæktʃuəl/",
"tags": [
"Canada"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊn.tə(ɹ)ˈfæk.tʃu.əl/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.ogg"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "paikkansapitämätön"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "tosiasioiden vastainen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktuaalinen"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrefactuel"
},
{
"code": "ka",
"lang": "Georgian",
"lang_code": "ka",
"roman": "pakṭebis sac̣inaaɣmdego",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "ფაქტების საწინააღმდეგო"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktisch"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "hamis"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "valótlan"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktuális"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "a tényeknek ellentmondó"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "controfattuale"
},
{
"code": "oc",
"lang": "Occitan",
"lang_code": "oc",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrafactual"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrfaktyczny"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrafatual"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "kontrafaktivnyj",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "контрафактивный"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "contrafactual"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "contrary to the facts",
"word": "kontrafaktisk"
}
],
"word": "counterfactual"
}
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms prefixed with counter-",
"English uncomparable adjectives",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with Georgian translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Occitan translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"en:Alternate history"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "counter-",
"3": "factual"
},
"expansion": "counter- + factual",
"name": "pre"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From counter- + factual.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "counterfactuals",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "counterfactual (plural counterfactuals)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "alternate history"
},
{
"word": "alternate universe"
},
{
"word": "alternative fact"
},
{
"word": "what if"
},
{
"word": "what-if"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English links with manual fragments"
],
"glosses": [
"A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts."
],
"links": [
[
"claim",
"claim"
],
[
"hypothesis",
"hypothesis"
],
[
"belief",
"belief"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "counterfact"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misapprehension"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misconception"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misunderstanding"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "falsehood"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "misinformation"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "model#Noun"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"word": "retrofuture"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
8,
23
]
],
"ref": "2004 September 5, Laura Miller, “Imagine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2021:",
"text": "Just as counterfactuals employ too much imagination to qualify as historical works, alternate history often labors under too great a load of artificial \"facts\" to take flight as fiction.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
28,
43
],
[
92,
107
]
],
"ref": "2010 September 1, Ross Douthat, “Iraq in the Long Run”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022, retrieved 15 Jul 2021:",
"text": "We can spin out complicated counterfactuals that justify the Iraq invasion, and complicated counterfactuals that make it look even worse.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
13,
27
]
],
"ref": "2015 December 3, Lee Drutman, “Here's the real reason we don't have gun reform”, in Vox, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2016:",
"text": "The implicit counterfactual — that these members would support gun control if not for the $1,000 they received from the NRA — seems unlikely to me.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
16,
31
]
],
"ref": "2016 February 11, Noah Berlatsky, quoting Neal Roese, “'What if?': Why we can't get enough of counterfactual shows”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2016:",
"text": "Roese also says counterfactuals can serve emotional purposes. You can think about how things could have been worse, and so feel better about yourself, and grateful for where you are.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
10,
24
]
],
"ref": "2021 May 14, Dashiell Young-Saver, “The Math of Ending the Pandemic: Exponential Growth and Decay”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 May 2021:",
"text": "Imagine a counterfactual in which we started relaxing restrictions at an even earlier time, just as the cases began to trend downward.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action."
],
"links": [
[
"hypothetical",
"hypothetical"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"en:Linguistics",
"en:Philosophy"
],
"glosses": [
"A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false."
],
"links": [
[
"linguistics",
"linguistics"
],
[
"philosophy",
"philosophy"
],
[
"conditional",
"conditional"
],
[
"statement",
"statement"
],
[
"clause",
"clause"
],
[
"false",
"false"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(linguistics, philosophy) A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false."
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"linguistics",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊntɚˈfæktʃuəl/",
"tags": [
"Canada"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌkaʊn.tə(ɹ)ˈfæk.tʃu.əl/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-counterfactual.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "counterfactual"
}
Download raw JSONL data for counterfactual meaning in English (10.6kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (e2469cc and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.