fait accompli

fait accompli

A decision that has already been made or something that has already been accomplished or completed. The decision by the CEO to close 50 of the company's stores came as a fait accompli to the rest of the management team, who were powerless to stop it. Failing this class is not a fait accompli—you have the ability to study and bring up your grade!
See also: accompli, fait
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a ˌfait accomˈpli

(from French) something that has already happened or been done and that you cannot change: We got married secretly and then presented our parents with a fait accompli.
See also: accompli, fait
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

fait accompli, a

A deed or action already completed. The term is French for “accomplished action” and was adopted into English in the early nineteenth century. The French critic Nicolas Boileau, exponent of the classical style, may have been one of the first to popularize the term in French, in his treatise L’Art poétique (1674), expounding the classic unities of drama: “Qu’en un lieu, qu’en un jour, un seul fait accompli tienne jusqu’ à la fin le théâtre rempli” (One place, one time, one single action will keep the audience in the theater to the end).
See also: fait
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a fait accompli
  • accompli
  • fait accompli, a
  • choir
  • preach to the
  • preach to the choir
  • preach to the converted
  • has come and gone
  • have come and gone
  • go the round
References in periodicals archive
- Rejecting all actions taken to impose a fait accompli by force and try to change the components and nature of the Yemeni society, calling upon the Houthis to stop the use of force and withdraw from all the areas under their control and deliver the weapons were seized from the military and security institutions and engage in the political process.
For his part, the patriarch warned of the consequences of forming a fait accompli government.
"It looked like a complete fait accompli for me and for him.
But Joe Clarke, regional official for Unite, said: "I get the impression that Michael Clarke has made a fait accompli in relation to the plans to close Birmingham.
The statement urged the Islamic world to live up to its responsibility toward Al Aqsa and holy Jerusalem and "act promptly to curb the occupation's aggression which is on the rise day by day." The foundation warned of "the grave dangers" posed to Al Aqsa by settler actions, adding that the repeated assaults, which escalate over the Jewish holiday seasons, are part of Israeli attempts to impose a fait accompli through maintaining a daily Jewish presence at Al Aqsa.
It does not want to end up faced with a fait accompli, with decisions taken by the 17 that the 27 then have no choice but to approve.
Noting that Greek Cypriots, with the same mentality of seizing the rights, removed Turkish Cypriots from Cyprus Republic which had been jointly founded in 1964, Bozer said that Turkish Cypriots, as a stance against all those fait accompli and attitude, declared TRNC with people's will in 1983, and a democratic state based on human rights and supremacy of law was founded.
NEXT month's reduction of intervals between races at Dundalk is "a trial not a fait accompli", Horse Racing Ireland yesterday stressed in response to strong opposition from Jockeys' Association secretary Andrew Coonan.
And the fears of Arsenal fans that the move is a fait accompli grew when Barca president Joan Laporta told friends that "in a few weeks this subject will be closed".
This is incorrect as it is no longer a "proposal" but a fait accompli. The Government implemented major changes to the RO in April 2009 (see http://www.enviros.com/PDF/ BN020RenewablesObligation .pdf).
Whatever your views and opinions, they all count for nought as it is a fait accompli so we must move on.
AW mentions things like fait accompli and reverse thinking.
Head of SADR Government Omar Taleb denounced Friday in Madrid the Morocco's attempt to distort the very principle of international right of self-determination to "legitimize a fait accompli" in Western Sahara.
Agim Vela, acting rector of the Tetovo State University (DUT), stressed that this institution has been presented with a fait accompli, warning that the decision to open branches of the DUT faculties in Skopje, Kicevo, and Struga was made without consultation and is a threat to the university's autonomy.
I hope the cabinet will give my residents the same option and not have to face a fait accompli.