factive

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æktɪv

Etymology 1

From fact +‎ -ive.

Adjective

Examples
Lord Kelvin did not reveal that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible; he mistakenly believed it. The verb reveal is factive. Lord Kelvin revealed that he considered heavier-than-air flying machines to be impossible. The object of the factive verb reveal, in this case, is a true statement about his mistaken belief.

factive (not comparable)

1. (grammar, of a verb) Licensing only those content clauses that represent claims that are (known or believed with certainty to be) true.

   Antonyms: nonfactive, contrafactive

   Coordinate terms: factual, counterfactual

   • 2003, Petra Schulz, Factivity: Its Nature and Acquisition, de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 2:

     Under this account, verbs like forget and remember are classified as factive (1) and verbs like think and believe as nonfactive (2).

2. (epistemology, of a knowing agent) Which does not know any falsities: which knows only truths.

Derived terms

• contrafactive
• factively
• factiveness
• factivity
• nonfactive

Related terms

• abortifactive
• benefactive
• factitive
• malefactive

Translations

Translations

• German: faktiv

Noun

factive (plural factives)

1. (grammar) A factive verb.

Etymology 2

From New Latin factīvus, from Latin facere (“to make”).

Adjective

factive (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Making; creative.