Meanings
alternative [citation needed]
- humorousUsed to designate an assertion or other statement as false, inaccurate, or requiring verification.
I pass the Museo del Bargello, a former army barracks and prison, it is now home to masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Vincenzo Gemito and Robert Mapplethorpe [citation needed].
2013, Dan T. Alighieri [pseudonym], “Prologue”, in Dan’s Inferno: A Parody, London: Michael O'Mara Books, →ISBN, page 75 more examples
I have learned recently, where I can't remember, that books made of scrolls of papyrus were cut into pages and enclosed in wooden covers. Books like this were in circulation at the time. For now, just like Wikipedia, we will mark this: "citation needed."
2013, Phil[lip D.] Johnson, “My Favorite Event as Told by Mark”, in Funny Stuff in the Bible: A Field Trip in the Bible Library, Eugene, Or.: Resource Publications; Wipf and Stock, →ISBN, page 91You know, every time I hear their stories [of near-death experiences] I just want to say "citation needed", because all the stuff they're saying, the only people who believe it happen to be the ones in their circles.
2013 December 4, Hemant Mehta, “Atheists, there is PROOF of Heaven!”, in YouTube, retrieved 06 Feb 2017Euclid’s solution was simply to take parallel lines for granted and add them in as a fifth postulate. [...] In The Elements, the first four postulates are stated in simple and obvious statements, together amounting to only thirty-four words. The fifth postulate alone requires thirty-five words. This was the ancient Greek equivalent of ‘citation needed’.
2014, Matt Parker, “Shapes: Now in 3D”, in Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician’s Journey through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 92Do you struggle to keep up with all the great podcasts and video content The Spinoff puts out every week? Luckily, we have a solution – introducing Rec Room, The Spinoff’s latest and some are saying greatest [citation needed] newsletter.
2020 August 17, “Subscribe to Rec Room, Our Newsletter for Video, Podcasts and Other Favourite Stuff”, in The Spinoff, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2020> Democrats want a centralized autocratic government / [citation needed] Meanwhile, Trump's autocratic tendencies have become legendary after his one and only term. / > Democrats want a dictatorial leader (as evidenced by their refusal to hold their leader(s) to any Constitutional or legal standards) / [citation needed] Meanwhile, Banana Republicans just spent four years displaying clear anti-democratic tendencies and support for a rogue executive who regularly flouted laws, norms, and Congressional oversight.
2020 November 7, Nadegda, “How to defeat a coup attempt”, in talk.politics.misc (Usenet) - Used ironically to designate an obvious fact that needs no support.
The sun is really bright,[citation needed] and its light illuminates the earth.[citation needed]
2014, Randall Munroe, What If?
Origin
From a tag, first created in June 2005, used on the English Wikipedia to mark statements in articles that require verification.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans verwysing benodig
- verwysing benodigused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Arabic بِحَاجَةٍ لِمَصْدَرٍ
- بِحَاجَةٍ لِمَصْدَرٍ (biḥājatin limaṣdarin)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Bulgarian без източници
- без източници (bez iztočnici)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Catalan cal citació, citació necessària
- cal citacióused to designate a statement as requiring verification
- citació necessàriaused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Chinese Mandarin 來源請求 /来源请求
- 來源請求 /来源请求 (láiyuán qǐngqiú)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Danish kilde mangler
- kilde manglerused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Esperanto citaĵo bezonata, mankas fonto
- citaĵo bezonataused to designate a statement as requiring verification
- mankas fontoused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Finnish lähde?
- lähde?used to designate a statement as requiring verification
French référence nécessaire, refnec
- référence nécessaireused to designate a statement as requiring verification
- refnecused to designate a statement as requiring verification
German Belege fehlen
- Belege fehlenused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Greek εκκρεμεί παραπομπή
- εκκρεμεί παραπομπή (ekkremeí parapompí)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Hebrew דרוש מקור
- דרוש מקורused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Hungarian forráskérő
- forráskérőused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Icelandic heimild vantar
- heimild vantarused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Indonesian butuh rujukan
- butuh rujukanused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Italian citazione necessaria
- citazione necessariaused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Japanese 要出典
- 要出典 (yō-shutten)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Korean 출처 필요
- 출처 필요 (chulcheo piryo)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Latvian nepieciešama atsauce
- nepieciešama atsauceused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Lithuanian reikalingas šaltinis
- reikalingas šaltinisused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Norwegian Bokmål trenger referanse
- trenger referanseused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Polish potrzebne źródło
- potrzebne źródłoused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Portuguese carece de fontes
- carece de fontesused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Punjabi ਹਵਾਲਾ ਲੋੜੀਂਦਾ
- ਹਵਾਲਾ ਲੋੜੀਂਦਾ (havālā loṛīndā)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Romanian necesită citare
- necesită citareused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Russian нет исто́чника
- нет исто́чника (net istóčnika)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Slovak chýba zdroj, bez citácie
- chýba zdrojused to designate a statement as requiring verification
- bez citácieused to designate a statement as requiring verification
- chýba citáciaused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Spanish cita requerida
- cita requeridaused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Swedish källa behövs
- källa behövsused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Thai ต้องการอ้างอิง
- ต้องการอ้างอิง (dtông gaan âang ing)used to designate a statement as requiring verification
Vietnamese cần dẫn nguồn
- cần dẫn nguồnused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Welsh angen ffynhonnell
- angen ffynhonnellused to designate a statement as requiring verification
Cite this entry
citation needed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/citation%20needed
“citation needed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/citation%20needed. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “citation needed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/citation%20needed.
Source: citation needed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.