Definition of "defacto"

Homicide, assault, rape, and suicide occur as a result of Aboriginal men′s fear of loss of a valued relationship and jealousy over their wives or defactos.

1992, University of New South Wales Aboriginal Law Research Unit, Aboriginal Law Bulletin, Issue 31, unidentified page

Demographers in Denmark call the practice of living together marriage without papers. In Australia, these couples are known as defactos

2001, Richard T. Schaefer, Sociology: A Brief Introduction

The police role […] has tended to exclude a whole class of people — wives, defactos, girlfriends and daughters, or past wives, defactos and girlfriends from the protection of the criminal law, too often with tragic consequences.

2001, Jude McCulloch, Blue Army: Paramilitary Policing in Australia, page 51

Of the 250 victims in this sample, 50.4 percent were or had been in an intimate relationship with the offender (intimates are defined as present and past spouses, defactos and lovers).

2007, Jo Barnes, 4: Murder Followed by Suicide in Australia, 1973—1992: A research note, Diane Kholos Wysocki, Readings in Social Research Methods, page 36