"fact" again

[Jonathan Lighter]

BBC thinks it means "possibility":
 
2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7503519.stm (July 12): 
The classified ads site also appears to be a place where those needing the services of a killer might go....Police spokesman Miguel Amelio...told the Reforma newspaper that police had not ruled out the fact that the ads were fake, but all were being investigated. 
 
JL




------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org