wikiality

• Wikiality

Blend of Wikipedia +‎ reality, coined by American comedian and writer Stephen Colbert on 31 July 2006 on his show The Colbert Report.^[1]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælɪti

wikiality (usually uncountable, plural wikialities)

1. (derogatory) The supposed reality described by Wikipedia articles, whose content is established by majority consensus.
   • 2006 September 20, Felicia Daniels, “Wikipedia selects Cornell U. page as 'Featured Article'”, in University Wire‎^[2]:

     A group of undergraduates and alumni combated the backlash of "wikiality" and put their own spin on the facts about Cornell in an article about the University on the Web site Wikipedia.

   • 2007 January 21, Kevin Garcia, “Wikiality is not reality”, in The Brownsville Herald‎^[3]:
   • 2007 January 5, Matt Martin, “Are we best we can be?”, in The Lantern‎^[4]:

     Yet, this is the wikiality("truth based on consensus rather than fact") of the world, I'm sorry, of America, today

   • 2009, Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, Ethan Thompson, Satire TV: politics and comedy in the post-network era‎^[5], NYU Press, →ISBN:

     Most important, here, Colbert calls attention to the Bush administration's cooption of wikiality: its continuous campaign to manipulate public perception.

   • [2025 October 27, David Shariatmadari, “‘People thought I was a communist doing this as a non-profit’: is Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales the last decent tech baron?”, in The Guardian‎^[6], →ISSN:

     Back in 2006, comedian Stephen Colbert did a bit about Wikipedia, saying it was the harbinger of a distorted form of reality called “Wikiality” […] Fast forward to 2025 and it seems that Wikipedia might be the antidote to “alternative facts”, with lessons not just for the web, but for society more broadly.]

• truthiness