De facto

"In practice" redirects here. For the publication, see In Practice.
For other uses, see De facto (disambiguation).

De facto (/deɪ ˈfæktoʊ, di -, də -/ day FAK-toh, dee -⁠, də -⁠;[1] Latin: [deː ˈfaktoː] ⓘ; lit. 'in fact') describes practices that exist in reality, regardless of whether they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms.[2][3] It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with de jure ('by law').

  1. ^ Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary. S.v. "de facto Archived 2021-01-24 at the Wayback Machine." Retrieved January 12, 2018
  2. ^ "de facto". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  3. ^ See I. 3. "de facto". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 1989.