as in erroneous
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Recent Examples of counterfactual
Health care ethicists, for example, use this kind of counterfactual reasoning to evaluate harm and benefit, asking how a patient would have fared without an intervention.
—
Jen Zamzow, The Conversation, 17 Dec. 2025
In Dark Matter, a parallel-universe version of Chicago as a desolate wasteland is more obviously counterfactual—and thus less uncanny—than a parallel universe in which the main character’s wife had not given up her career as an artist to have children.
—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025
Such speculations can be amusing and interesting but, like much counterfactual history, they cannot be tested.
—Literary Hub, 19 Nov. 2025
Ferguson, who has published a collection of counterfactual histories, is an outlier among academics.
—Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for counterfactual
Jen Zamzow, The Conversation, 17 Dec. 2025
In Dark Matter, a parallel-universe version of Chicago as a desolate wasteland is more obviously counterfactual—and thus less uncanny—than a parallel universe in which the main character’s wife had not given up her career as an artist to have children.
—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025
Such speculations can be amusing and interesting but, like much counterfactual history, they cannot be tested.
—Literary Hub, 19 Nov. 2025
Ferguson, who has published a collection of counterfactual histories, is an outlier among academics.
—Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for counterfactual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterfactual
Adjective
-
That assumption is erroneous—and dangerous.—
David Capablanca,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
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Technology should be developed to track the same digital paths that erroneous content traveled, correcting the record along the way.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
The White House said the report is untrue.—
Kevin Liptak,
CNN Money,
27 May 2026
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This is, to begin with, obviously untrue.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
21 May 2026
Adjective
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Since 2019, state law has required law enforcement agencies that employ POST certificate holders to notify the board if a certificate holder knowingly made an untruthful statement during an internal affairs investigation, among other circumstances.—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
8 May 2026
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These questions were raised after reporting by The New York Times in August 2024 regarding Moore’s untruthful claims about receiving the Bronze Star in Afghanistan — a story originally reported on in 2022 by FOX45’s Mikenzie Frost.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Visibility into workflows is partial, and where visibility is incomplete, control is illusory.—
Krupesh Bhat,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
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The idea that transparency offers a route to closure is already proving illusory.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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However, operators often hide behind fictitious or stolen identities and fail to comply with cease-and-desist letters; meanwhile, hosting servers are often untraceable, shielded by anonymization techniques or by being located in countries where legal enforcement is extremely difficult.—
Emma Woollacott,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
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He is charged with one count of unlawful voting by aliens and one count of the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under state law.—
Louis Casiano,
FOXNews.com,
19 May 2026
Adjective
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The polyester cloth was scratchy on my thighs, the fit inexact.—
Benny Peterson,
Vogue,
4 May 2026
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Predicting space weather remains a decidedly inexact science, comparable to weather forecasting decades ago on Earth.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In addition, the news organization insists its statements are true in the sense that, even if some details are inaccurate, the gist or overall summation of the reporting was right.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
2 June 2026
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Doing so could result in inaccurate, misleading or incomplete outputs.—
Shekhar Iyer,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Adjective
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In the case that led to the large sanction, Quinn Emanuel’s client Natera needed to show that science backed up the advertising statements its rival Guardant alleged were false and misleading, Chen noted in his order.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
27 May 2026
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Job descriptions are too rigid and titles are often misleading and neither tends to truly capture what people actually do.—
Keith Ferrazzi,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Counterfactual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterfactual. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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