Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| companion n. (1963) | in the British television series Doctor Who: any of the usually human characters who (regularly) travel with the Doctor |
| completism n. (1944) | the desire to have or collect a complete set of something |
| completist n. (1940) | one who wishes to have or collect complete sets of something |
| con n. (1939) | a convention; an organized gathering of fans; cf. -con suffix |
| -con suffix (1939) | (used to form the names of conventions, with the first element indicating the location or (typically in informal designations) the main subject or focus of the event); cf. con n. |
| con crud n. (1990) | an illness (esp. a cold) suffered while or shortly after attending an SF convention |
| condom n. (1986) | the milieu of (usually science fiction) conventions |
| congoer n. (1954) | one who attends (usually science fiction) conventions |
| congoing n. (1959) | attendance at (usually science fiction) conventions |
| conlang n. (1991) | an artificially created language; esp. a language invented to represent the speech of an alien race |
| conreport n. (1953) | a report of the events of a convention |
| construct n. (1970) | an intelligent entity that is not biological, as a sentient hologram or a digital intelligence; an artificially created or hybridized being |
| continuum n. (1938) | a universe; dimension n. |
| contragravity n. (1929) | = antigravity n. |
| contraterrene adj. (1941) | made of, or making use of, antimatter; cf. seetee n., terrene adj. |
| core n. (1964) | the center of the galaxy |
| coreward adj. (1979) | toward the center of the galaxy |
| corpsicle n. (1966) | a cryogenically frozen person; someone in cold sleep n.; (also, occasionally) a frozen corpse |
| cosy catastrophe n. (No cites) | see catastrophe adj. |
| counterfactual n. (1991) | a work of alternate history n. |
| countergrav n. (1955) | = antigravity n. |
| countergravity n. (1937) | = antigravity n. |
| countergravity adj. (1940) | = antigravity adj. |
| credit n. (1934) | a unit of currency |
| croggle v. (1954) | to astonish, bewilder, baffle |
| croggled adj. (1962) | astonished, baffled, bewildered |
| crudzine n. (1947) | a zine regarded as low quality |
| cruiser n. (1900) | a spaceship |
| cryogenics n. (1960) | = cryostasis n.; cryonics n. |
| cryonics n. (1966) | the practice or technique of deep-freezing the bodies of people who have died, usu. of an incurable disease, with the aim of reviving them once a cure has been found |
| cryosleep n. (1972) | = cold sleep n. |
| cryostasis n. (1975) | a frozen state of a person or body induced in order to preserve it for long periods; cryosuspension n. |
| cryosuspension n. (1983) | = cryostasis n. |
| Cyberman n. (1966) | in the British television series Doctor Who: one of a race of emotionless cybernetic humanoids |
| cybernetically adv. (1951) | by means of cybernetic technology |
| cyberpunk n. 1 (1984) | a subgenre of science fiction typified by a bleak, high-tech setting in which a lawless subculture exists within an oppressive society dominated by computer technology |
| cyberpunk n. 2 (1984) | an author of, or protagonist in, cyberpunk n. 1 |
| cyberpunkish adj. (1989) | resembling or reminiscent of cyberpunk n. 1 |
| cyberspace n. (1982) | the notional environment within which electronic communication occurs, esp. when represented as the inside of a computer system; space perceived as such by an observer but generated by a computer system and having no real existence; a virtual reality environment |