Matter-of-fact means plain and unemotional, as though nothing unusual were happening. Announcing a disaster in the voice you would use for a shopping list.
The word describes delivery rather than content, and the gap between the two is where its power lies: the more extraordinary the news, the more striking a matter-of-fact tone becomes. You meet it in descriptions of people under strain — matter-of-fact about her diagnosis, a matter-of-fact account of the fire. The adverb is matter-of-factly, and it is a favourite in dialogue tags. It can be a compliment about composure, or a mild complaint that somebody showed no feeling at all.
1adjectivematter-of-factPlain and unemotional in manner, treating something remarkable as ordinary.
“She described the accident in a matter-of-fact voice.”
synonyms: deadpan, unemotional
From matter of fact.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 27 of A Man Called Ove.
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