face facts

English

Alternative forms

• face the facts

Verb

face facts (third-person singular simple present faces facts, present participle facing facts, simple past and past participle faced facts)

1. To accept what is true, especially when it is undesirable.
   • 1828, The Indian Year Book, volumes 12-17, page 765:

     The Home Member said they could not refuse to face facts and Mr. S. R, Das, Law Member, said the partial co-operation which had been received from the Swarajists in the House had been forced out of them by their minority position there.

   • 1950 January, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 13:

     Now this doubtness is an unhappy state of affairs to the lover of the steam locomotive, but we cannot, like the proverbial ostrich, bury our heads in the sand and refuse to face facts.

   • 2014, Joe RoosEvans, Here's to the Good Life, page 32:

     Not long after a particularly aggressive soccer game in my youth, when I went down hard with a severe injury, I had to face facts: my soccer days were over.

   • 2017, Julia Quinn, The Girl With The Make-Believe Husband: A Bridgertons Prequel, page 15:

     “You must face facts,” he said, taking a step toward her.

Translations

to accept what is true

• Finnish: kohdata totuus

References

• “face facts”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “face facts” (US) / “face facts” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.