Nonfactual

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Devoid of accurate information or empirical evidence
2. Relating to statements or claims that are not grounded in confirmed facts
3. Lacking a foundation in verified reality or truth

Etymology: The prefix "non-" has an unusually deep English ancestry for a word of this kind. It descends from Old English "nān", meaning "not one" or "no one", a contraction of "ne" (not) and "ān" (one). Over the centuries it wore down to the Middle English "non-", which by then was a productive way to negate almost any noun or adjective. English speakers have been attaching it to new bases ever since, so "nonfactual" is a freshly assembled word rather than an old inherited form. The base, "factual", comes from "fact", which traces back through Latin "factum", "something done", from "facere", "to do" or "to make." So a fact was originally a deed or thing made, and only later came to mean a verified piece of information. "Factual" carries that later sense, and "nonfactual" reverses it: a statement that does not match what is actually known or observed.

Synonyms: fictional, untrue, false

Antonyms: factual, true, real