fait accompli

[ fe ta-kawn-plee ]

See synonyms for fait accompli on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural faits ac·com·plis

[fe za-kawn-plee]. /fɛ za kɔ̃ˈpli/. French.

an accomplished fact; a thing already done: The enemy's defeat was a fait accompli long before the formal surrender.

Origin of fait accompli

First recorded in 1835–45

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fait accompli in a sentence

Pursuing the issue by force in order to create a fait accompli is theologically reckless and a political recipe for disaster.
Think Twice About Jews On The Temple Mount | Edward S. Goldstein | June 27, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
That does not make a war with Iran a fait accompli, but it does bring the possibility ever closer.
Likud Veers to the Right | Justin Green | November 28, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
The Iranians are racing to make their nuclear capability a fait accompli.
Obama, Iran, and the ‘Jewish Vote’ | Trita Parsi | June 12, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
He did his best to sound statesmanlike as he accepted the fait accompli.
Afghanistan: Karzai and the Taliban in a Tizzy Over News of Secret Peace Talks | Sami Yousafzai, Ron Moreau | January 10, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
But for Moore, the most difficult and also most satisfying fait accompli was her giblet gravy.
Food Writers Share Thanksgiving Stories | Jessica Ferri | November 24, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST

Yet, even in France, the task of transforming medicine into a natural and exact science is far from being a fait accompli.
An Epitome of the History of Medicine | Roswell Park
Rupture in diplomatic relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, he said, was a fait accompli.
The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) | Various
Then Gladstone, October 7, tried to force Palmerston's hand by treating the intervention as a fait accompli.
The Education of Henry Adams | Henry Adams
And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fait accompli?
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | A. Conan Doyle
Helen's own friends, I discovered, had passed from teasing to regard us as a fait accompli, and thereafter held their peace.
I Walked in Arden | Jack Crawford

British Dictionary definitions for fait accompli

fait accompli

/ French (fɛt akɔ̃pli) /

nounplural faits accomplis (fɛz akɔ̃pli)

something already done and beyond alteration

Origin of fait accompli

literally: accomplished fact

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for fait accompli

fait accompli

[ (fayt uh-kom-plee, fet ah-kohm-plee) ]

Something that has already been done: “The company president did not discuss the new hiring policy with her board of directors; instead she put it into effect and presented the board with a fait accompli.” From French, meaning “an accomplished fact.”

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