counterfactual

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of counterfactual While Uber has disputed my findings on driver pay cuts and increasing profit margins, the company has declined to disclose relevant counterfactual data. Len Sherman, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024 Although her settings seem realistic enough, materially and socially, her dramas are almost like fairy tales, or seemingly counterfactual philosophical abstractions. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 28 June 2024 In his counterfactual history, the United States would have sought to keep China weak, poor, and peripheral. G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs, 11 Feb. 2022 Tarantino’s counterfactual ingenuity in linking the two fictional performers to the real-life story of the Manson family was weighed down by the sediment of movie-world references, which seemed mostly designed to gratify his swoony fascination with cinematic history and his own place in it. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 2 May 2024 See All Example Sentences for counterfactual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterfactual
Adjective
  • According to the Financial Times, the erroneous internal transfer occurred in April 2024 and was missed by a payments employee and a second official assigned to check the transaction before it was cleared to be processed at the start of business the next day.
    Erin Clack, People.com, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Our inquiry to the hospital was due to an erroneous order of a separate inpatient stay request.
    Kara Nesvig, Allure, 27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • For the people affected by these disasters, the idea that real estate is a perfectly safe way to store wealth is clearly untrue.
    Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2025
  • But his explosive claim is apparently untrue in any event: The investigation began under one of Williams’s predecessors more than a year before Adams turned on Biden (the mayor had previously backed both Biden and sanctuary-city policies).
    The Editors, National Review, 21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement on June 1 was terribly misguided, and his justification for doing so was misleading and untruthful.
    Robert N. Stavins, Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2017
  • What is more untruthful: A thing written down, or a sustained deception of the heart?
    Nicolette Polek, Harper's Magazine, 2 July 2024
Adjective
  • Perhaps nothing demonstrates the illusory pursuit of the truth like the story of Ikilimu Bilbis, the traveler who arrived in the ancient city of Timbuktu to glimpse the Book of Absolute Truth, a tome that contained the answer to every question in the universe.
    Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, The Dial, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Instead of an illusory peace, Washington should help Ukraine determine the rules of engagement with Russia, and through these rules, the war could gradually be minimized.
    Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • The 10-episode series (now streaming) follows the follies of the fictitious NBA team, the Los Angeles Waves, after Isla Gordon (Hudson) steps in to run it with her brothers (Drew Tarver and Scott MacArthur) when another (Justin Theroux) checks into rehab.
    Erin Jensen, USA TODAY, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Another alleged scam involved the defendants posing as fictitious real estate owners and tricking victims into thinking a legitimate sale of property was occurring, then pocketing the money.
    Terry Castleman, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • After all, matching photos is exactly the kind of inexact process that ML handles well.
    Eric Siegel, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
  • Projecting value seven years in advance is inexact, but based on current deals for multi-team arenas, those naming rights could be worth $25 million to $35 million per year, according to sponsorship consultant Eric Smallwood, president of Apex Marketing Group.
    Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 14 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Though Google made fixes to address some of the most absurd answers, AI Overview still occasionally presents inaccurate information.
    Mack DeGeurin, Popular Science, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Improper payments happen when the agency either overpays or underpays benefits due to inaccurate information.
    Lorie Konish, CNBC, 3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • That will in turn spread on social media, which often plays a disproportional role in boosting these disinformation efforts by providing nearly unlimited platforms for unfiltered content and fallacious and deceptive claims.
    Peter Suciu, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
  • But hard evidence in both our nation’s history and our present shows that this reasoning is fallacious.
    Ana Raquel Minian, TIME, 30 May 2024

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Counterfactual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterfactual. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!