factoid

English

Etymology

From fact +‎ -oid; coined by Norman Mailer in Marilyn (1973): "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".

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈfæktɔɪd/

Noun

factoid (plural factoids)

An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media. [from 1973]
An interesting item of trivia.

Translations

inaccurate statement believed to be true

Finnish: näennäistotuus
Portuguese: factoide (pt) m

Spanish: factoide m
Swedish: faktoid (sv) c (only as false truth, not trivia), vandringssägen c, klintbergare (sv) c (strongly colloquial)

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.