Definition of "de facto" [de• fac•to]

• In reality or fact; actually. (adverb)
• Actual: de facto segregation. (adjective)
• Exercising power or serving a function without being legally or officially established: a de facto government; a de facto nuclear storage facility. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The then de facto ruler of Sudan, Hassan Turabi, was closely allied to Saddam, while he was also playing host to terrorist groups from around the Middle East."
• "Some say it all began with Colonel Edward M. House, a man neither elected nor appointed to any office, who operated as Woodrow Wilsons de facto secretary of state during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919."
• "Loving thanks to my grandmother, Sylvia Greenwald, for being a constant believer and my de facto publicist for Northeastern Pennsylvania."