Meaning & use
face facts
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Meaning
phraseidiominformal
To accept that something unpleasant is true and stop hoping it is not.
Grammar: Used as a verb phrase: you face facts. Often in the imperative: Face facts!
Patterns
- face facts
- face the facts
- have to face facts
- let's face facts
You need to face facts: the business is losing money.
Let's face facts — we can't finish the project by Friday.
She finally faced facts and sold the old house.
Word forms
| third person singular | faces facts |
|---|---|
| past tense | faced facts |
| past participle | faced facts |
| -ing form | facing facts |
Common combinations
- face the facts
- It's time to face the facts about our spending.
- have to face facts
- We have to face facts and change our plan.
- let's face facts
- Let's face facts: the car is too old to repair.
- face facts about something
- He refused to face facts about his health.
Synonyms and how they differ
- accept reality
- A more formal phrase with a similar meaning; it sounds less blunt than 'face facts'.
- come to terms with something
- This focuses on the emotional process of accepting a difficult situation, not just admitting the truth.
- wake up and smell the coffee
- An informal idiom that is more sarcastic and forceful; use it only with people you know well.
Opposites
Commonly confused: face facts or face the music?
face facts vs face the music
'Face the music' means to accept punishment or criticism for something you did. 'Face facts' means to accept that something is true.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'face facts' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Only the first sentence uses 'face facts' to mean accepting an unpleasant truth. The second confuses it with 'face the music', and the others use wrong grammar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “face facts”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.