Betteridge's law of headlines

A form of Betteridge's Law — An adage stating that any headline ending in a question mark can be correctly answered by the word "no".

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Betteridge's law.

    Conforming to Betteridge’s law of headlines, the answer is no — or at least, not yet.

    2014 February 6, James Temple, “Will Google Translate Let Us Talk to Aliens and Dolphins?: Google’s Peter Norvig Says, Umm, No”, in Recode, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2018
    1 more example

    And from the National Journal: “When U.S. Steps Back, Will Russia and China Control the Internet?” As Betteridge’s Law of Headlines suggests, the answer is no.

    2014 March 25, Jonathan Zittrain, “No, Barack Obama isn’t Handing Control of the Internet over to China: The Misguided Freakout over ICANN”, in The New Republic, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2014
Cite this entry
APA

Betteridge's law of headlines. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Betteridge's%20law%20of%20headlines

MLA

“Betteridge's law of headlines.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Betteridge's%20law%20of%20headlines. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Betteridge's law of headlines,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Betteridge's%20law%20of%20headlines.

Source: Betteridge's law of headlines on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.