fact of life
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
An unpleasant or unavoidable situation
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
một tình huống không mong muốn hoặc không thể tránh
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a true circumstance of existence
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Getting older is a fact of life.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “fact of life” mean?
An unpleasant or unavoidable situation Literally: a true circumstance of existence
Is “fact of life” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.