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fact of life

noun

any aspect of human existence that must be acknowledged or regarded as unalterable:
Old age is a fact of life.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of fact of life¹

First recorded in 1850–55

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

facts of life, the facts concerning sex, reproduction, and birth:
to teach children the facts of life.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Taylor, which has become known as the "don't say gay" case, because it's over conservative objections to children's books, taught in Maryland classrooms, that position queerness as a normal fact of life.

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But for travelers with “weak passports,” struggling to cross borders has long been a fact of life.

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Training accidents are a fact of life in the military.

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Avalanches are an unavoidable fact of life in the mountains.

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It seems like merely a fact of life on the West Coast that summers are dry — in a typical year, LAX receives about 2½ inches of rain in the eight months between April and November, which represents less than 20% of the annual average.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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