factoid

factoid Audio pronunciation

 
noun | FAK-toyd
 
What It Means
 
A factoid is a brief and usually unimportant or trivial fact. Factoid may also refer to an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.
 
// The book is really just a collection of interesting factoids.

factoid
noun
fac·;toid ;fak-;t;id
Synonyms of factoid
1
: an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print
2
: a briefly stated and usually trivial fact


Did you know?
Did you know that Norman Mailer coined the word factoid?

In his 1973 book Marilyn (about Marilyn Monroe), Normal Mailer describes factoids 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." Mailer's use of the -oid suffix (which traces back to the ancient Greek word eidos, meaning "appearance" or "form") follows in the pattern of humanoid: just as a humanoid appears to be human but is not, a factoid appears to be factual but is not. The word has since evolved so that now it most often refers to things that decidedly are facts, just not ones that are significant.

Examples of factoid in a Sentence
The book is really just a collection of interesting factoids.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
However easy that is to explain away, that factoid remains kind of interesting.
—Clem Chambers, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
By collecting their earliest recordings straight through the later years, and tossing in booklets loaded with history-minded factoids, each of the sets lent a shape and narrative to an artist’s musical career.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 10 Jan. 2025
Announcer Kevin Frazier, who missed no chance to remind you that this was Hollywood’s biggest party — as opposed, by implication, to the Oscars and Emmys, chained to their dull academies — chimed in with factoids about presenters and winners, like a wedding DJ working the crowd.
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2025
Fun factoid: Eva Longoria (pre-Desperate Housewives) joined the cast in season two as Det.
—Marc Berman, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025