"factoid" meaning in English

See factoid in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈfæk.tɔɪd/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-factoid.wav Forms: factoids [plural]
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". Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|fact|-oid|gloss2=similar, but not the same}} fact + -oid (“similar, but not the same”), {{coin|en|Norman Mailer|in=1973|nat=American|nobycat=1|nocap=1|occ=writer}} coined by American writer Norman Mailer in 1973 Head templates: {{en-noun}} factoid (plural factoids)
  1. An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media. Synonyms: misconception Coordinate_terms: urban legend Translations (inaccurate statement believed to be true): näennäistotuus (Finnish), Faktoid [masculine] (German), sannlíki [neuter] (Icelandic), faktoid [masculine] (Polish), factoide [masculine] (Portuguese), факто́ид (faktóid) [masculine] (Russian), factoide [masculine] (Spanish), faktoid [common-gender] (Swedish), vandringssägen [common-gender] (Swedish), klintbergare [common-gender, informal] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-factoid-en-noun-xqy34JwY Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 51 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 45 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 49 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 45 55 Disambiguation of 'inaccurate statement believed to be true': 93 7
  2. (originally Canada, US) An interesting item of trivia; a minor fact. Tags: US Synonyms: factlet
    Sense id: en-factoid-en-noun-LnO8s2DZ Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -oid, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 51 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -oid: 36 64 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 44 56 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 42 58 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 45 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 49 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 44 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 45 55
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: facturd Related terms: verisimilitude

Inflected forms

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          "text": "Wikipedia-derived factoids can be so important that there is a well-known feedback loop, called citogenesis, in which the mainstream news finds some claim made in a Wikipedia article, and publishes it (without citing Wikipedia). Then Wikipedia itself makes use of the news article. By means of this loop, an ultimately “sourceless” factoid gains a spurious authority.",
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          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fi",
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          "lang_code": "fi",
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          "lang_code": "pt",
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            "masculine"
          ],
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        },
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      ],
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          "word": "factlet"
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  "wikipedia": [
    "Marilyn: A Biography"
  ],
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}
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "word": "näennäistotuus"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Faktoid"
    },
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      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "lang_code": "is",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
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        "neuter"
      ],
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    },
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "faktoid"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "factoide"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "faktóid",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "факто́ид"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "factoide"
    },
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      "code": "sv",
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      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "faktoid"
    },
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      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "vandringssägen"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "inaccurate statement believed to be true",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender",
        "informal"
      ],
      "word": "klintbergare"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
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  ],
  "word": "factoid"
}

Download raw JSONL data for factoid meaning in English (6.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.