adj
Meaning 1
Of or pertaining to this genre.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Phrase guide
science fiction
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈsaɪəns ˌfɪkʃən/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɪkʃən
noun
Meaning 2
Fiction in which advanced technology or science is a key element.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: scientific romance, scientifiction, sci-fi, SF, skiffy, stf
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: imaginative fiction, non-mimetic fiction, SF/F/H, speculative fiction
noun
Meaning 3
Technology that, while theoretically possible, is not yet practical.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, uncountable, usually
Examples
- Despite decades of research, mass-market personal aircraft are still science fiction.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
literary fantasy involving the imagined impact of science on society
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fantasy, phantasy
Narrower terms: cyberpunk
History
Etymology
From science + fiction. First use appears c. 1851. See cite below.
Across languages
Translations
85 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: wetenskapfiksie — fiction genre
- Arabic: خَيَال عِلْمِيّ (ḵayāl ʕilmiyy) — fiction genre
- Azerbaijani: elmi fantastika — fiction genre
- Belarusian: навуко́вая фанта́стыка (navukóvaja fantástyka) — fiction genre
- Belarusian: фанта́стыка (fantástyka) — fiction genre
- Bulgarian: нау́чна фанта́стика (naúčna fantástika) — fiction genre
- Catalan: ciència-ficció — fiction genre
- Chinese Mandarin: 科學幻想 /科学幻想 (kēxué huànxiǎng) — fiction genre
- Chinese Mandarin: 科幻 (kēhuàn) — fiction genre
- Chinese Mandarin: 科學虛構 /科学虚构 (kēxué xūgòu) — fiction genre
- Czech: science fiction — fiction genre
- Dutch: sciencefiction — fiction genre
- Finnish: tieteiskirjallisuus — fiction genre
- French: science-fiction — fiction genre
- Galician: ciencia ficción — fiction genre
- Georgian: სამეცნიერო ფანტასტიკა (samecniero panṭasṭiḳa) — fiction genre
- German: Science-Fiction — fiction genre
- Greek: επιστημονική φαντασία (epistimonikí fantasía) — fiction genre
- Hebrew: מַדָּע בִּדְיוֹנִי (madá bid'yóni) — fiction genre
- Hungarian: tudományos fantasztikum — fiction genre
- Hungarian: tudományos-fantasztikus irodalom/műfaj — fiction genre
- Hungarian: sci-fi — fiction genre
- Icelandic: vísindaskáldskapur — fiction genre
- Indonesian: fiksi ilmiah — fiction genre
- Irish: ficsean eolaíochta — fiction genre
- Italian: fantascienza — fiction genre
- Japanese: SF (esuefu) — fiction genre
- Japanese: 空想科学小説 (kūsō kagaku shōsetsu) — fiction genre
- Japanese: サイエンスフィクション (saiensu fikushon) — fiction genre
- Kazakh: ғылыми фантастика (ğylymi fantastika) — fiction genre
- Korean: 과학소설 (gwahaksoseol) — fiction genre
- Korean: 사이언스 픽션 (saieonseu piksyeon) — fiction genre
- Korean: 공상과학 소설 (gongsanggwahak soseol) — fiction genre
- Kyrgyz: илимий фантастика (ilimiy fantastika) — fiction genre
- Latin: scientia ficticia — fiction genre
- Lithuanian: mókslinė fantãstika — fiction genre
- Macedonian: научна фантастика (naučna fantastika) — fiction genre
- Malay: fiksyen sains — fiction genre
- Māori: pohewa pūtaiao — fiction genre
- Māori: paki pohewa pūtaiao — fiction genre
- Mongolian: шинжлэх ухаан уран зөгнөл (šinžlex uxaan uran zögnöl) — fiction genre
- Mongolian: шинжлэх ухааны хий бодол (šinžlex uxaany xii bodol) — fiction genre
- Mongolian: ᠰᠢᠨᠵᠢᠯᠡᠬᠦ ᠤᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠤᠷᠠᠨ ᠵᠥᠩᠨᠡᠯ (sinǰilekü uqaɣan uran ǰöngnel) — fiction genre
- Mongolian: ᠰᠢᠨᠵᠢᠯᠡᠬᠦ ᠤᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠦ ᠬᠡᠢ ᠪᠣᠳᠤᠯ (sinǰilekü uqaɣan-ü kei bodul) — fiction genre
- Occitan: sciéncia-ficcion — fiction genre
- Persian: علمی تخیلی ('elmi taxayyoli) — fiction genre
- Polish: fantastyka naukowa — fiction genre
- Portuguese: ficção científica — fiction genre
- Romanian: știință-ficțiune — fiction genre
- Romanian: science-fiction — fiction genre
- Russian: фанта́стика (fantástika) — fiction genre
- Russian: нау́чная фанта́стика (naúčnaja fantástika) — fiction genre
- Scottish Gaelic: ficsean saidheans — fiction genre
- Slovak: vedecká fantastika — fiction genre
- Slovak: science fiction — fiction genre
- Slovene: znanstvena fantastika — fiction genre
- Spanish: ciencia ficción — fiction genre
- Swahili: sayansi ya kubuniwa — fiction genre
- Swedish: science fiction — fiction genre
- Tagalog: kathang-agham — fiction genre
- Tajik: илмӣ-тахайюлӣ (ilmi-taxayyuli) — fiction genre
- Thai: บันเทิงคดีแนววิทยาศาสตร์ — fiction genre
- Thai: นิยายวิทยาศาสตร์ — fiction genre
- Thai: ไซไฟ — fiction genre
- Turkish: bilim kurgu — fiction genre
- Ukrainian: науко́ва фанта́стика (naukóva fantástyka) — fiction genre
- Ukrainian: фанта́стика (fantástyka) — fiction genre
- Uzbek: ilmiy fantastika — fiction genre
- Vietnamese: khoa học viễn tưởng — fiction genre
- Vietnamese: khoa học giả tưởng — fiction genre
- Yiddish: פֿאַקטאַזיע (faktazye) — fiction genre
- Chinese Mandarin: 科學幻想 /科学幻想 (kēxué huànxiǎng) — technology which is not yet practical
- Chinese Mandarin: 科幻 (kēhuàn) — technology which is not yet practical
- Dutch: sciencefiction — technology which is not yet practical
- Dutch: toekomstmuziek — technology which is not yet practical
- Finnish: tieteiskirjallisuus — technology which is not yet practical
- French: science-fiction — technology which is not yet practical
- German: Science-Fiction — technology which is not yet practical
- German: Zukunftsmusik — technology which is not yet practical
- Icelandic: framtíðarmúsík — technology which is not yet practical
- Irish: fantaisíocht — technology which is not yet practical
- Portuguese: ficção científica — technology which is not yet practical
- Russian: фанта́стика (fantástika) — technology which is not yet practical
- Slovene: znanstvena fantastika — technology which is not yet practical
- Turkish: bilim kurgu — technology which is not yet practical