Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological ( asc | desc )
| First date | Word | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | prime directive n. (1947) | a chief objective, goal, or requirement; a rule or law that overrides or guides other rules or laws; (specif.) a rule forbidding interference in the affairs of less developed planets or cultures |
| 1947 | saucer n. (1947) | = flying saucer n. |
| 1947 | saucerian n. (1947) | a being that travels in a flying saucer; = alien n. |
| 1947 | secondary world n. (1947) | the setting of a work of fantasy where this setting is different from the real world, but is internally consistent; cf. primary world n. |
| 1947 | semiprozine n. (1947) | a magazine that is between the levels of fanzine and prozine in some category such as circulation, quality of printing, etc.; a well-produced or widely circulated fanzine |
| 1947 | sentience n. 2 (1947) | an intelligent being |
| 1947 | space v. 1 (1947) | to travel to or in space; cf. earlier spacing n. 1 |
| 1947 | sub-creation n. (1947) | J. R. R. Tolkienβs word for: the action or process of creating a fully realized and internally consistent imaginary or secondary world n. |
| 1947 | sub-creator n. (1947) | J. R. R. Tolkien's word for: a person who creates a secondary world (see sub-creation n.); (later also more generally) an author regarded as occupying the position of God in relation to his or her own fictional creation |
| 1947 | sublight adj. (1947) | occurring below the speed of light; (also) relating to travel at speeds below the speed of light |
| 1947 | universe n. (1947) | the setting of a work or series of fiction, esp. of imaginative fiction |
| 1946 | braintape n. (1946) | a recording of the (entire) contents of a personβs mind |
| 1946 | combozine n. (1946) | a collection of zines bound or published together, esp. for distribution at a convention |
| 1946 | Denebian n. 2 (1946) | the language of Denebians |
| 1946 | hyperdrive n. (1946) | a spaceship drive that enables travel faster than the speed of light; (also) the state of such travel; cf. hyperspace n. |
| 1946 | jet car n. (1946) | a form of aircar powered by jets |
| 1946 | mundane n. 1 (1946) | a non-imaginative story |
| 1946 | non-terrestrial n. (1946) | an (intelligent) being that is not from Earth; = extraterrestrial n., alien n. |
| 1946 | planet-hopping adj. (1946) | that planet-hops; of or relating to planet-hopping n. |
| 1946 | pocket universe n. (1946) | a universe or reality completely separate from ours which is much smaller, may have different natural laws, and may be artificially created |
| 1946 | stun gun n. (1946) | a weapon that renders a victim unconscious or incapacitated without causing serious injury; cf. earlier stunner n. |
| 1946 | teleporting n. (1946) | the action of teleporting; = teleportation n. |
| 1945 | beamer n. (1945) | a device (esp. a weapon) that emits a beam of energy |
| 1945 | blowup n. (1945) | a war that destroys a culture or a large part of the population |
| 1945 | first contact n. (1945) | the first meeting between two different intelligent species |
| 1945 | illo n. (1945) | an illustration |
| 1945 | kiloday n. (1945) | a period of one thousand days |
| 1945 | kiloyear n. (1945) | a period of one thousand years |
| 1945 | mundane adj. 1 (1945) | belonging or relating to the world which lies outside the sphere of interest of a particular group of enthusiasts (used esp. among science fiction fans, originally of mainstream fiction) |
| 1945 | newfan n. (1945) | a fan new to fandom, or to science fiction in general |
| 1945 | newfen n. (1945) | plural of newfan n. |
| 1945 | off-planet adj. (1945) | originating on another planet; located away from a (particular) planet |
| 1945 | overdrive n. (1945) | = hyperdrive n. |
| 1945 | planet v. (1945) | to land on or arrive at a planet; hence planeted adj. |
| 1945 | planet-hopping n. (1945) | the action of making (short) trips from one planet to another |
| 1945 | psychohistorian n. (1945) | an expert in psychohistory n. |
| 1945 | robo- prefix (1945) | (used to form nouns with the sense βa robotic or automatic βββ) |