English Online Dictionary. What means fiction? What does fiction mean?
English
Etymology
From Middle English ficcioun, from Old French ficcion (“dissimulation, ruse, invention”), from Latin fictiō (“a making, fashioning, a feigning, a rhetorical or legal fiction”), from fingō (“to form, mold, shape, devise, feign”). Displaced native Old English lēasspell (literally “false story”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: fĭk′-shən, IPA(key): /ˈfɪk.ʃən/
- Hyphenation: fic‧tion
- Rhymes: -ɪkʃən
Noun
fiction (countable and uncountable, plural fictions)
- (literature) Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose.
- A verbal or written account that is not based on actual events (often intended to mislead).
- (law) A legal fiction.
Synonyms
- fabrication
- figment
Antonyms
- documentary
- fact
- non-fiction
- truth
Hyponyms
- science fiction
- speculative fiction
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Irish: ficsean
- → Scottish Gaelic: ficsean
Translations
Further reading
- “fiction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “fiction”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “fiction”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- "fiction" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 134.
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin fictiōnem (accusative of fictiō).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fik.sjɔ̃/
Noun
fiction f (plural fictions)
- fiction
Related terms
- fictif
- science-fiction
Further reading
- “fiction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.