counterfactual

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The counterfactual question—what might have happened if France had not abandoned the National Convention’s vision of a trans-Atlantic, multiracial polity?—can never be answered.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

That effacement tries to create a counterfactual absurdity.

From Salon • Mar. 9, 2025

We can't be certain because the results depend heavily on the method chosen by researchers for measuring the "counterfactual", i.e what would have happened to UK exports had the country stayed in the EU.

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2025

These 24 counterfactual precipitation events for each of the ten largest disasters were fed into a flood model in order to quantify the severity of the flood for the corresponding regions in Germany.

From Science Daily • Mar. 27, 2024

Of course, no counterfactual or hypothetical reconstruction of how people from the past might have approached or performed an intellectual task can predict what they certainly would have done.

From Slate • Feb. 15, 2023