A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts.
Used in a Sentence
counterfactual
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for counterfactual.
Editorial note
Ignoring the blatantly counterfactual spin this argument carries, the data is in.
Examples16
Definitions4
Parts of speech2
Quick take
A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of counterfactual gathered in one view.
A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action.
Contrary to known or agreed facts; untrue.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for counterfactual.
noun
A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts.
noun
A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action.
adjective
Contrary to known or agreed facts; untrue.
adjective
Of or in comparison to a hypothetical state of the world.
Example sentences
Ignoring the blatantly counterfactual spin this argument carries, the data is in.
It's as if it were fantasy ( or at least counterfactual fiction) written by a military historian.
As another counterfactual to build intuition: had the KMT beaten Mao in the 1940's, would there be a Communist Vietnam?
ETA Again: As another counterfactual to build intuition: had the KMT beaten Mao in the 1940's, would there be a Communist Vietnam?
In a counterfactual reality, Europe would probably have united more quickly and peacefully.
Detroit would suddenly see its cars become more difficult to export, while Tennessee's would become cheaper (just as Eastern Europe's under the Euro counterfactual).
It's counterfactual, as if women didn't enjoy sex as much as men.
The conclusion that we need something like CoreOS might be correct, but counterfactual axioms do not support that (or any) conclusion.
Of course, it is all counterfactual, but could Airbnb have been as successful had they not joined YC?
Whether things work out or not, I'll always wonder what the counterfactual was, all the unknown-unknowns I chose to miss out on.
Even if this is true in today's society, there's no way to know whether or not it would be true in a counterfactual society where gender equality exists.
It's called counterfactual reasoning actually.
Quote examples
The conclusion is in the abstract: """ These findings suggest that the mastery of the English subjunctive is probably quite tangential to counterfactual reasoning in Chinese.
You seem to be just pushing words around, but may I venture to guess that you mean to differentiate between discriminative "describing" and causal-counterfactual "understanding"?
And of course the way we tease out the "strength" of your preference involves, e.g., looking at how your choice varies between counterfactual scenarios involving different probabilities.
(The Hoover example elsewhere in this thread is counterfactual example.) Note also that even though AA estimated that the passes (for certain individuals) "were costing it millions of dollars in revenue", no one bought one for $3M in 2004.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use counterfactual in a sentence?
Ignoring the blatantly counterfactual spin this argument carries, the data is in.
What does counterfactual mean?
A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts.
What part of speech is counterfactual?
counterfactual is commonly used as noun, adjective.