counterfactual

adjective

Definition of counterfactualnext
as in erroneous

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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 Havana Docks did not have to prove that the cruise lines interfered with a property interest that would have existed in the counterfactual scenario in which the Cuban Government did not confiscate it. — Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald, 21 May 2026 Mandatory frontier-model approval simultaneously fails the targeting, counterfactual durability, and enforceability tests. — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 15 May 2026 In our counterfactual future, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay in South America’s southern cone, so close to Antarctica, have to adapt to some of the harshest effects of the widening hole in the ozone. — Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026 In Dark Matter, a parallel-universe version of Chicago as a desolate wasteland is more obviously counterfactual—and thus less uncanny—than a parallel universe in which the main character’s wife had not given up her career as an artist to have children. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for counterfactual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterfactual
  1. erroneous
  2. untrue
  3. untruthful
  4. illusory
  5. fictitious
  6. inexact
  7. inaccurate
  8. misleading
Adjective
  • According to a lawsuit, a coding error resulted in erroneous scores being generated and reported to third parties over a three-week period between March and April 2022.
    — Brian Sloan,Dan Avery, CNBC, 23 Oct. 2026
  • While descending, deputies said the climber ran into trouble after following an erroneous GPS route that led him onto the Whitney Glacier.
    — Tim Fang, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of erroneous
Adjective
  • When isolated issues in other states occur, even if proved untrue, the intense and repeated national media attention on them shakes voter confidence here at home.
    — Heather LaMarre, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The first complainant, whose claims Brand says are untrue, was said by the prosecution to have been raped by Brand.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of untrue
Adjective
  • Those commitments can be withdrawn if Saab is untruthful with investigators or probation officials, commits another crime or otherwise violates the agreement.
    — Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2026
  • However, subsequent video evidence led officials to claim that the officers involved had likely made untruthful statements about what happened.
    — Paloma Chavez, PEOPLE, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of untruthful
Adjective
  • Thomas drives away with a limp, malfunctioning Vision next to him, and an illusory, wisecracking Ultron in the back seat.
    — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Yet these promises of a self-running state are illusory, because AI is never truly autonomous.
    — Seva Gunitsky, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of illusory
Adjective
  • This Lincolnian view of the war—that the United States was perpetual and that the Confederate States of America was a fictitious, farcical nation—has led to various historical interpretations ever since, among historians and laypeople alike.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 Oct. 2026
  • The series will be set in a fictitious Barneys in Beverly Hills, not New York, and the real founding family of the retailer, the Pressman family, has no involvement, the spokesperson said.
    — Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of fictitious
Adjective
  • Polls, while an inexact science, show that public trust in all institutions – especially government institutions – has been declining for years.
    — Henry Gass, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The polyester cloth was scratchy on my thighs, the fit inexact.
    — Benny Peterson, Vogue, 4 May 2026
Definition of inexact
Adjective
  • An inaccurate count would negatively affect congressional representation.
    — Julie Morita, Time, 25 Oct. 2026
  • The result was a 53% pressure rate, with Mahomes frequently under duress and uncharacteristically inaccurate.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of inaccurate
Adjective
  • Soon afterward, an investment-research firm alleged that the company had made misleading claims about pre-orders.
    — Dan Kaufman, New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Trump has described the broadcast as false, misleading and defamatory under Florida law.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of misleading

Browse Nearby Words

counterevidence
counterfactual
counterfeit
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Counterfactual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterfactual. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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