science-fictionish adj.

being, resembling, or reminiscent of science fiction n. 2

SF Criticism

  • 1940 I. Asimov Letter in Future Fiction Mar. 108 page image Isaac Asimov bibliography

    I don’t like the cover. First, it is not sufficiently science-fictionish.

  • 1950 W. Weber Letter in Planet Stories Spring 104/1 page image Wally Weber bibliography

    Name a present day, professional publication that boasts of a solid, green-blooded, truly science-fictionish name as does Planet Stories.

  • 1965 ‘A. Boucher’ Criminals At Large in N.Y. Times Book Review 18 July 28/1 Anthony Boucher

    It has always been difficult to draw a sharply defined line between the spy novel and science fiction. There is often something science-fictionish about The Plans at stake—which is a direct reflection of reality; there is often something science-fictionish about the secrets for which real-life agents contend.

  • 1975 I. Asimov in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 128 page image Isaac Asimov

    It occurred to me that there is nothing so dramatic for a science-fictionish person such as myself as the Martian canals.

  • 1986 I. Asimov Robot Dreams xiv Isaac Asimov

    My robots, too, had ‘brains’ that made them work, and I never spoke of them as computers, either. I had to make them science-fictionish, of course, so I called them ‘positronic brains.’ Positrons had been detected for the first time only four years before my first robot story had been written.

  • 2020 A. O. Scott 25 Greatest Actors of 21st Century in N.Y. Times 25 Nov.

    Her skill manifests itself in a totally different way in ‘Bacurau’ this year, a crazily fantastical (and violent) science-fictionish allegory of Brazil in crisis that departs from the realism of Mendonça’s other films without abandoning their political passion or their humanism.


Research requirements

antedating 1940

Earliest cite

Isaac Asimov

Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1965 cite from Anthony Boucher in the New York Times.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1990 cite from a reprint of Isaac Asimov's "Robot Dreams".
Jesse Sheidlower submitted the 1940 cite, and all others.

Last modified 2021-10-28 15:16:04
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.