fait accompli
[fe ta-kawn-plee]
- an accomplished fact; a thing already done: The enemy's defeat was a fait accompli long before the formal surrender.
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Origin of fait accompli
First recorded in 1835–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
fait accompli
- something already done and beyond alteration
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Word Origin
literally: accomplished fact
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fait accompli
n.
French, literally "an accomplished fact" (see feat).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.