Anecdata
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Anecdotal evidence. derogatory, humorous, plural, plural-normally, usually
"A handful of stores, just one mall, not what you'd call a statistically significant sample. In fact, the most recent government report was that retail sales rose in January, which just goes to show why the journalist's approach to reality, what you might call "anecdata," may be the flimsiest form of forecasting."
Example
More examples"A handful of stores, just one mall, not what you'd call a statistically significant sample. In fact, the most recent government report was that retail sales rose in January, which just goes to show why the journalist's approach to reality, what you might call "anecdata," may be the flimsiest form of forecasting."
Etymology
Blend of anecdotal + data; also compare this to the plural of anecdote is not data, upon which this term likely plays. Equally, analysable as a blend of anecdote + data.
More for "anecdata"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.