Counterfactual (Adjective)
Meaning
Going counter to the facts (usually as a hypothesis).
Classification
All adjective clusters.
Examples
- The historian's counterfactual argument that the Roman Empire could have survived if they had adopted a more democratic system was intriguing but impossible to prove.
- A counterfactual scenario where the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs missed Earth was a staple of science fiction.
- The economist presented a counterfactual analysis of what would have happened to the global economy if the 2008 financial crisis had been handled differently.
- The professor's counterfactual example of a world where the Mongols had conquered all of Europe was meant to illustrate the complexity of historical contingency.
- The physicist's counterfactual hypothesis that the universe could have evolved differently if the fundamental constants had been slightly different sparked a heated debate.