Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| chronoscopy n. (1956) | viewing past or future events |
| cityship n. (1953) | a large spacecraft having the size or complexity of a city |
| clanker n. (1958) | = robot n. |
| Clarke belt n. (1981) | the ring-shaped region around the Earth containing all possible geostationary orbits |
| Clarke orbit n. (1969) | geosynchronous orbit |
| Clarke’s Law n. (1962) | any of three maxims formulated by Arthur C. Clarke (sometimes specified as Clarke’s First Law, Clarke’s Second Law, Clarke’s Third Law): (a) ‘When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong’ (b) ‘The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.’ (c) ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’ |
| class M planet n. (1964) | an Earth-type planet |
| cli-fi n. (2009) | a subgenre of science fiction concerned with the effects of climate change |
| cloak v. (1984) | to make invisible or undetectable, esp. by means of a cloaking device n. |
| cloaking device n. (1968) | a device or system for rendering something invisible or undetectable |
| clone n. (1966) | any member of a hypothetical population of artificially produced, identical beings; (also) a duplicate of a living person |
| COA n. (1961) | notification of a change of address |
| cold fusion n. (1956) | nuclear fusion taking place at temperature lower than ordinarily required, spec. at or near room temperature |
| cold sleep n. (1941) | a form of suspended animation in which the subjects are kept at very cold temperatures |
| cold sleep v. (1956) | to undergo suspended animation for a period of time; (transitive) (rare) to put a person into cold sleep n. |
| cold sleeper n. (1969) | a person in cold sleep |
| collapsium n. (1958) | any of a variety of extremely high-density substances |
| colony planet n. (1942) | a planet occupied by settlers (or their descendants) from another planet or area, typically under the political control of the parent state |
| combozine n. (1946) | a collection of zines bound or published together, esp. for distribution at a convention |
| commlink n. (1974) | a communication link; a communication device |
| communicator n. (1905) | a device used for communication, esp. a small personal device used for voice communication |
| 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. |
| conapt n. (1964) | an apartment in a condominium |
| 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 |