realspace n.

the ordinary universe; space that exists outside of hyperspace, wormholes, or other notional regions used for faster-than-light travel; cf. otherspace n.

Dimensions

  • [1964 K. Bulmer The Contraption in Science Fantasy June–July 37 page image Kenneth Bulmer bibliography

    Everything went on in this otherspace at a steady, sedate speed relative to other objects—that they were hurdling the parsecs in moments in true space meant nothing.]

  • 1973 R. Silverberg Ship-Sister, Star-Sister in R. Elwood Frontiers 1: Tomorrow’s Alternatives 95 page image Robert Silverberg bibliography

    There is no energy interface between realspace and nospace, no opportunity for any kind of electromagnetic intrusion. That much had been amply demonstrated long before any manned voyages were undertaken.

  • 1981 C. J. Cherryh Downbelow Station IV. v. iii. 318 page image C. J. Cherryh bibliography

    All it needed was someone overshooting minimum, some over hasty ass coming into realspace too close to the point, and they and the newcomer would cease to exist in any rational sense, shredded here and there.

  • 1984 D. Duane My Enemy, My Ally iii. 38 page image Diane Duane bibliography

    But she saw too little of realspace these days; and the otherspace in which ships moved while in warp was a wavering, uneasy vista, not pleasant to look at at all.

  • 1994 C. Smith Star Wars Sourcebook i. 6/2 page image

    Hyperspace is coterminous with realspace: each point in realspace is associated with a unique point in hyperspace, and adjacent points in realspace are adjacent in hyperspace.

  • 2008 M. D. Rivera Scent of Their Arrival in Interzone (#214) Feb. 44/1 page image Mercurio D. Rivera bibliography

    Some blamed it on an arms race run amok, a new weapon that ripped open the fabric of realspace and created the Fissure, a three-dimensional rectangle of light.

  • 2019 ‘J. S. A. Corey’ Tiamat’s Wrath xxxvii. 383 Daniel Abraham Ty Franck bibliography

    In theory, it was possible to hit a gate from the realspace side at the perfect angle and make the transit through the intervening space in a straight line.


Research requirements

antedating 1973

Earliest cite

Robert Silverberg

Research History
Suggested by Bee Ostrowsky.

The sense 'the physical world; personal meeting, in contrast to online communication' is interesting, but later and not SF.

Last modified 2024-11-17 00:09:25
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.