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factoid

noun
/ˈfæk.tɔɪd/

Etymology

From fact + -oid (“similar, but not the same”); coined by American writer Norman Mailer in 1973 in Marilyn: A Biography, defined as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority".

  1. derived from *dʰeh₁-✻
  2. derived from factum
  3. derived from fact
  4. suffixed as factoid — “fact + -oid”

Definitions

  1. An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition,…

    An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media.

    • Such hedging is necessitated by the lack of in-depth knowledge of the contents, which also gives free rein to the scripting of unsubstantiated factoids concerning the book.

  2. An interesting item of trivia

    An interesting item of trivia; a minor fact.

    • Don't parade in front of the audience spewing every factoid you know on your topic. Only share the right information for that exact moment with that specific audience.

The neighborhood

Derived

facturd

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for factoid. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA