FACTOID

noun and adjective (Lifestyle and Leisure) noun: A spurious or questionable fact; especially, something that is popularly supposed to be true because it has been reported (and often repeated) in the media, but is actually based on speculation or even fabrication. adjective: Apparently factual, but actually only partly true; 'factional' (see faction above). Etymology: Formed by adding the suffix -oid (from Latin -oides and ultimately derived from Greek eidos 'form') to fact; the implication is that these spurious pieces of information have the form or appearance of facts, but are actually something quite different. History and Usage: The word was coined by the American writer Norman Mailer in 1973. In his book Marilyn (a biography of Marilyn Monroe), he defined 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. Since it so aptly described the mixture of fact and supposition that often characterized both biography and journalism in the seventies and eighties, factoid established a place for itself in the language as a noun and as an adjective. Santa Fe is full of writers, which is what he has now become. His speciality is big fat factoids full of real people, especially his old boss. The Times 19 Mar. 1987, p. 17 The vast bulk of it is devoted to a somewhat breathless and awestruck factoid account of how these difficulties will work themselves out to an inevitable, or at least dauntingly probable, finale. Spectator 4 July 1987, p. 31