Citogenesis
noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A circular form of citation where various sources report each other, creating a false impression of reliability. informal, uncountable
"Relatedly, Wikipedia has been a locus of ‘citogenesis’: “the creation of ‘reliable’ sources through circular reporting” […] In citogenesis, information is added to Wikipedia, which is then picked up in media reports, which are in turn used as ‘independent’ sources to support the original information in Wikipedia."
Example
More examples"Relatedly, Wikipedia has been a locus of ‘citogenesis’: “the creation of ‘reliable’ sources through circular reporting” […] In citogenesis, information is added to Wikipedia, which is then picked up in media reports, which are in turn used as ‘independent’ sources to support the original information in Wikipedia."
Etymology
From cite + -o- + -genesis, probably inspired by cytogenesis. Coined by American cartoonist, author and engineer Randall Munroe in 2011 in his webcomic xkcd.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.