Link Centre Dictionary

factoid

fac·toid

UK/ˈfæk.tɔɪd/ US/ˈfæˌktɔɪd/ uncommon us

noun

1.

something resembling a fact; unverified (often invented) information that is given credibility because it appeared in print

2.

a brief (usually one sentence and usually trivial) news item

Origin

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".

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Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.