fait accompli

Borrowed from French fait accompli (“a completed fact”), from fait (“a fact”) + accompli (“completed; accomplished”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌfeɪt.əˈkɔm.pli/, /ˌfeɪt.əˌkɔmˈpli/, /fɛt-/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

fait accompli (plural faits accomplis)

1. Something which has already happened, before those affected had the chance to raise objections or queries.

   Synonym: (US) done deal

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Slope’s Parting Interview with the Signora”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 272:

     Mr. Quiverful's appointment to the hospital was, however, a fait accompli, and Mr. Harding's acquiescence in that appointment was not less so.

   • 1913, Saki, When William Came, Chapter VII:

     “In quarters where the fait accompli is an object of solicitude,” said Yeovil.

   • 2003, Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 65:

     The phrase “Spanish Conquest” and all it implies has come down through history because the Spaniards were so concerned to depict their endeavors as conquests and pacifications, as contracts fulfilled, as providential intention, as faits accomplis.

   • 2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 10, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:

     [Hal] Varian awards surveillance capitalists the privilege of the experimenter's role, and this is presented as another casual fait accompli.

• IPA^(key): /fɛ.t‿a.kɔ̃.pli/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

fait accompli m (plural faits accomplis)

1. a fait accompli; a done deal

   placer/mettre quelqu’un devant le fait accompli ― to present somebody with a fait accompli

• → Polish: fakt dokonany (calque)

Unadapted borrowing from French fait accompli.

fait accompli

1. fait accompli; done deal

• “fait accompli” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

fait accompli m (plural faits accomplis)

1. fait accompli; done deal