Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Dark Side n. 2 (1975) | the force of evil |
| Darth n. 1 (1974) | in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise: (used as a title before the name of a Sith Lord) |
| Darth n. 2 (1980) | (used as a title before the name of someone regarded as evil or an enemy) |
| datapad n. (1962) | a thin handheld electronic device for viewing and manipulating information; a tablet computer |
| datasphere n. (1989) | the notional environment in which digital data is stored; esp. the internet viewed in this way; (also) the realm of virtual reality; cyberspace n. |
| dayside n. (1914) | the side of a planet or moon that is in daylight, sometimes in the context of a planet with one side permanently facing its sun |
| death ray n. (1902) | a destructive beam of energy; a device that generates such a beam |
| de Campian adj. (1941) | of, relating to, or characteristic of the writing of L. Sprague de Camp |
| deep space n. (1921) | that part of space far away from planets or stars |
| deep-space adj. (1937) | of or in deep space n. |
| deflector n. (1931) | a force field that protects something (such as a spaceship or a city) from potentially harmful objects or energy; a beam of energy that repels such objects; cf. shield n. |
| Denebian n. 1 (1942) | a native or inhabitant of the Deneb system |
| Denebian n. 2 (1946) | the language of Denebians |
| Denebian adj. (1942) | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Deneb system or its inhabitants |
| different story n. (1919) | esp. in the early pulp era: a science fiction, fantasy, or weird story; an impossible story |
| dimension n. (1896) | a realm of existence coexistent with our own, but which cannot be perceived or accessed by ordinary means and which often possesses different physical laws; cf. alternate world n., parallel universe n., plane n. |
| dimensional adj. (1931) | between dimensions; joining dimensions |
| dirtball n. (1978) | a planet |
| dirtside n. (1955) | the surface of a planet |
| dirtside adv. (1953) | on or to the surface of a planet (as opposed to in space) |
| dirtsider n. (1984) | a person who lives on a planet (in contrast to a person who lives or frequently travels in space) |
| disaster adj. (1949) | designating a genre that deals with a global catastrophe (natural, man-made, or extraterrestrial in origin) and its aftermath |
| disintegrator n. (1898) | a weapon that disintegrates its target |
| disruptor n. (1931) | a type of energy weapon; a weapon that causes damage by disrupting the molecular bonds of its target |
| doppel n. (1981) | a duplicate version of a person, as a clone, a virtual-reality representation, a shapeshifter, etc. |
| downtime adj. (1978) | esp. in time-travel contexts: in or from the past; cf. uptime adj. |
| downtime adv. (1972) | esp. in time-travel contexts: in, into, or toward the past; cf. uptime adv. |
| droid n. (1952) | a robot, esp. a humanoid one; an android |
| dropshaft n. (1952) | a vertical shaft that uses artificial gravity to move free-floating passengers or freight |
| Dyson sphere n. (1966) | an artificial structure in the form of a hollow shell surrounding a star, built esp. in order to capture the starβs energy output |
| dystopia n. 1 (1952) | a work set in a dystopia n. 2 |
| 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. |