ENGLISH
REFERENCE

science fiction

compound.
A2 Elementary Oxford

compound. stories about the future, space travel, or new technology that does not exist yet.

compound. a genre of speculative fiction typically dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology, space exploration, time travel, and extraterrestrial life.


SIMPLE

I love reading science fiction books about Mars.

CONTEXTUAL

Many science fiction movies from the 1960s predicted that we would have flying cars by now.

COMPLEX

The author uses science fiction as a lens to critique contemporary social structures by projecting them into a dystopian future.

Origin

From science + fiction. First use appears c. 1851. See cite below.

Usage

often shortened to 'sci-fi' in casual conversation and media.

Teaching tip

help students distinguish this from 'fantasy' by explaining that science fiction usually relies on scientific logic or technology rather than magic.

Pitfall

a science-fictionscience fictionit is an uncountable noun when referring to the genre, so it does not take an indefinite article unless followed by a countable noun like 'novel'.

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