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Glite Dictionary
❌ A false fact 💡 A small fact
factoid

factoid

5 7.9
A short piece of information that seems true but may be false and is often repeated
  • noun
  • /ˈfæktɔɪd/
  • Literature
translation icon : dato curioso
  • I have no idea whether this ancient factoid is actually true.

Well, you know, there's a half life for factoids.

Examples

  • Hey, Link, is that factoid you've been believing all your life actually science fiction?

  • It is full of what we call factoids, things that are almost true but not quite.

  • I thought that was an odd "factoid" when I read it in a news account... so I looked it up.

    Blog text (32)

  • I wish you were right and that much thought and computer power went into that factoid.

    Blog text (29)

  • How do you think CNN found this factoid about King County in the first place?

    Blog text (26)

  • Why do I have this extra factoid to remember about RNA versus DNA?

  • The bad news about the factoid is that, from what I can tell, it seems to be totally true.

    Blog text (33)

  • They had become virtual repositories of factoids and information about nature, science, animals, and the world around them.

    Academic text (2014)

  • Jeopardy! questions are usually factoid questions—the answer and supporting evidence are usually stated explicitly in some document in the corpus.

    Academic text (2017)

  • Many popular factoids about health have been disproven over the years.

Antonyms

fact
∞ 1.0

Something that can be shown to be true, not an opinion

truth
∞ 1.0

A fact that shows how things really are

How True

fact
∞ 1.0
factoid
  • Literature
5 7.9
unverified
7 5.3
rumor
  • US
853 1.2
fabrication
29 6.5

Surface Forms

factoid singular
factoids plural

Morphology

factoid = fact (semi-transparent) = fact + oid

Formally 'fact' + the suffix '-oid' yields 'resembling a fact', which aligns with the sense 'appears factual but is not', but this specialized negative nuance and the less familiar '-oid' suffix may not be obvious to average learners.

Etymology

Factoid comes from fact plus the ending -oid, where -oid means 'like', so a factoid is something that only 'looks like' a fact. That's why it often means an item of information that seems true but is unverified or made up.