galaxy-wide adj.

of, relating to, or extending throughout a galaxy

  • 1937 E. E. Smith Galactic Patrol in Astounding Stories Dec. 57/2 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    It is more than a race or a system. It is actually a galaxy-wide culture.

  • 1940 I. Asimov Homo Sol in Astounding Science-Fiction Sept. 124/1 page image Isaac Asimov bibliography

    We have a race of Humanoids of a superlatively technological turn; possessing at the same time an intrinsically unscientific belief in supernatural forces, an incredibly childish predilection toward individuality, singly and in groups, and, worst of all, lack of sufficient vision to embrace a galaxy-wide culture.

  • 1946 G. O. Smith Pattern for Conquest in Astounding Science Fiction May 175/2 page image George O. Smith bibliography

    Sscantoo will reap the benefits of a Galaxy-wide culture.

  • 1951 L. Brackett Starmen of Llyrdis in Startling Stories Mar. 72/1 page image Leigh Brackett bibliography

    All this vast ordered turmoil of routine and activity, all the galaxy-wide trade that centered here, the thousand-year solidity of Vardda commercial monopoly—how could he have dreamed that a pitifully faint and aborted radio call could ever shake it?

  • 1973 A. D. Foster Bloodhype 176 Alan Dean Foster bibliography

    Otherwise we would now be in a position to pursue our natural destiny of galaxy-wide domination at a more natural pace.

  • 1982 D. Hartwell The Golden Age of Science Fiction is Twelve in Top of News (1982, issue number unknown) 26 David G. Hartwell

    James Blish was fascinated by Toynbee’s cyclical theory of history, so he wrote his great four-volume series, Cities in Flight, to demonstrate his version of how this theory would operate in a galaxy-wide civilization over enormous time spans.

  • 2003 N. Gevers Short Fiction in Locus Apr. 14/3 Nick Gevers

    Amber and her friends, including Aineko the talking AI cat, are now in direct contact with alien entities, beings apparently part of a galaxy-wide web of communications and commerce; worryingly for the humans, the course of galactic history echoes and anticipates humankind’s own evolutionary curve, and predation and parasitism are evidently trends we have to watch out for.

Research requirements

antedating 1937
Earliest cite

E. E. "Doc" Smith, "Galatic Patrol", in Astounding
Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1984 cite from David Hartwell's "Age of Wonders".
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2003 cite from Nick Gevers' review column in Locus.
Mike Christie submitted a 1940 cite from Isaac Asimov's "Homo Sol".
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2002 cite from Keith Laumer's 1965 "Retief's War". While keying in a cite submitted by Douglas Winston, Mike Christie found a 1951 cite in Leigh Brackett's "The Starmen of Llyrdis".
Ralf Brown located a cite in an electronic text of Alan Dean Foster's 1973 "Bloodhype", and David Dyer-Bennet verified it in a paper copy. Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from George O. Smith's "Pattern for Conquest".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from the 1960 book publication of E.E. Smith's "Galactic Patrol"; he subsequently verified it in the original publication in the December 1937 Astounding.

Last modified 2025-05-14 13:26:06
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.