Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological ( asc | desc )
| First date | Word | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | empathy n. (1956) | the paranormal perception of othersβ emotions; cf. empath n. |
| 1956 | fan film n. (1956) | a movie made by a fan; audiovisual fan fiction n. |
| 1956 | gafiate n. (1956) | a person who has quit fandom; one who has gafiated |
| 1956 | Heinleinian adj. (1956) | of, relating to, or characteristic of the writing of Robert Heinlein |
| 1956 | insectoidal adj. (1956) | = insectoid adj. |
| 1956 | jaunt v. (1956) | esp. in reference to teleportation by psychic rather than technological means: = teleport v. 1; = teleport v. 2 |
| 1956 | matter transporter n. (1956) | = matter transmitter n.; = transporter n. |
| 1956 | men in black n. (1956) | dark-clothed men of unknown identity or origin, who supposedly visit those who have encountered a UFO or alien in order to prevent them from publicizing their experience |
| 1956 | pod person n. (1956) | an alien, a monster; a person considered to be conformist, unoriginal, or emotionless; one who lacks personality or individuality |
| 1956 | relaxacon n. (1956) | a science fiction convention with few or no fixed program events or organized activities |
| 1956 | space-based adj. (1956) | based in outer space |
| 1956 | subterrene n. (1956) | a subterranean tunnelling machine; esp. one which melts the rock in front of it and causes the molten rock to form a glassy lining to the tunnel as it develops |
| 1956 | torch v. (1956) | to travel in a spaceship using a torch drive |
| 1956 | unobtainium n. (1956) | a hypothetical substance that would be highly desirable but is unrealized or unobtainable; a notional substance with exceptional or ideal properties |
| 1955 | countergrav n. (1955) | = antigravity n. |
| 1955 | dirtside n. (1955) | the surface of a planet |
| 1955 | dystopia n. 2 (1955) | an imaginary place or state of affairs in which there is great suffering or injustice, esp. as the result of a totalitarian or dehumanizing political state; the genre of fiction set in such a situation; cf. utopia n. |
| 1955 | generation ship n. (1955) | an interstellar spacecraft in which multiple generations of passengers are born, live, and die before arrival at its destination |
| 1955 | null-grav adj. (1955) | = null-g n. |
| 1955 | planetside adj. (1955) | located or occurring on the surface of a planet |
| 1955 | rimworld n. (1955) | a planet orbiting a star near the edge of a galaxy, typically regarded as being isolated from mainstream galactic culture |
| 1955 | sci-fi n. (1955) | = science fiction n. 2 |
| 1955 | sercon adj. (1955) | of fans or fan activities: (obsessively) concerned with matters of criticism or scholarship, rather than fandom itself; cf. faan n. |
| 1955 | subgenre n. (1955) | a style or category (of fiction, film, etc.) that is a regarded as a subset of another, broader genre |
| 1955 | time crime n. (1955) | a violation of time travel laws, esp. an illegal attempt to change the past; such violations collectively; cf. time police n. |
| 1955 | time hopper n. 1 (1955) | = time machine n. |
| 1955 | time patrol n. (1955) | = time police n. |
| 1955 | tri-vid n. (1955) | a device or system capable of transmitting or displaying a three-dimensional image |
| 1955 | xenolinguist n. (1955) | a specialist in alien languages |
| 1955 | xenolinguistics n. (1955) | the study of alien languages |
| 1954 | alternate history n. (1954) | a timeline that is different from that of our own world, usually extrapolated from the changing of a single event; the subgenre featuring such a timeline; (also) a story featuring this |
| 1954 | anti-agathic n. (1954) | a drug or other medical treatment that prolongs life |
| 1954 | anti-agathic adj. (1954) | (of a drug, medical treatment, etc.) that prolongs life |
| 1954 | croggle v. (1954) | (transitive) to astonish; bewilder; baffle; (intransitive) to feel or express astonishment, bewilderment, or bafflement |