MATTER OF FACT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does matter of fact mean? 

• MATTER OF FACT (noun)
  The noun MATTER OF FACT has 2 senses:

1. a disputed factual contention that is generally left for a jury to decide

2. a matter that is an actual fact or is demonstrable as a fact

  Familiarity information: MATTER OF FACT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MATTER OF FACT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A disputed factual contention that is generally left for a jury to decide

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

matter of fact; question of fact

Hypernyms ("matter of fact" is a kind of...):

head; question (the subject matter at issue)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A matter that is an actual fact or is demonstrable as a fact

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("matter of fact" is a kind of...):

fact (a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred)

 Context examples 

It is an actual matter of fact.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

That must be matter of fact.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“As a matter of fact, he could not,” said Soames, “for I entered by the side door.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was at a quarter to twelve, as a matter of fact.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It is too much a matter of fact, but here it is. What two letters of the alphabet are there, that express perfection?”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had regarded his presence as an encumbrance to the expedition, but, as a matter of fact, I am now well convinced that his power of endurance is as great as my own.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could, perhaps, like others, have astonished thee with strange improbable tales; but I rather chose to relate plain matter of fact, in the simplest manner and style; because my principal design was to inform, and not to amuse thee.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Upon my word, said she, I should not have supposed that my opinion of any one could have admitted of such difference of conjecture, steady and matter of fact as I may call myself.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

This one covered, as a matter of fact, the T joint which gives off the pipe which supplies the kitchen underneath.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)