Dictionary

dystopia en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Texas) audio
• [dɪsˈtɐʉ.pi.ə] (Australia)
• /dɪsˈtəʉ.pi.ə/ (Australia)
• /dɪsˈtoʊ.pi.ə/ (General-American)
• (New-Jersey) audio
• audio Queensland
• /dəsˈtɐʉ.pi.ə/ (New-Zealand)
• /dɪsˈtəʊ.pi.ə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From dys- + -topia, as if from Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-, “bad”) + τόπος (tópos, “place, region”) + -ία (-ía), based on utopia being reinterpreted as eu-topia.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A miserable, dysfunctional state or society that has a very poor standard of living or severe censorship, oppression, etc.
   • Erich Fromm, who has commented on 1984 and other dystopiae in postmodern literature discovers a mechanized dystopia in the text of existence itself in the ’50s and ’60s—a “technological nightmare” that had turned people into zombies and made the darkest alternative to “boring aliveness” seem attractive. 1997, Jacqueline Foertsch, “The Bomb Next Door: Four Postwar Alterapocalyptics”, in Genre, page 346:
   • As novelist, he knows, too, that when he sees the future, it will not work—he will automatically be creating a “dystopia” (no one creates utopias any more: even the utopias of the past look like dystopias to us). 1978 November 19, Martin Amis, “A Stoked‐Up 1976”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • [Aimee Semple] McPherson’s sexier half becomes the object of Jim [Morrison]’s obsession, and as the two struggle to find each other in this disordered land, their wild, careening chase through a dozen dystopiae recalls imagined worlds as diverse as Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange and Terry Gilliam’s movie Brazil. 1999, Mick Farren, Jim Morrison’s Adventures in the Afterlife, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, front flap – back flap:
   • But you get to the beach via monorail and you get to the sand and look out to the ocean and all you see is oil tankers and factories spewing smoke on the horizon. It was like some sort of futuristic dystopia. 2014 December 11, Megan Willett-Wei, “The 16 Most Disappointing Places To Visit On Earth”, in Business Insider:
   • Recollections tattooed with stiletto reasons and a sorrowful slant of light admitting of dystopiae already petrified in progress. 2003, Judith Fitzgerald, Adagios: Iphigenia’s Song, Oberon Press, →ISBN, page 50:
   • Its function is to legitimate that particular form of moral tribalism based on the “pedagogy of hatred” that [Evgeny] Zamiatin and [George] Orwell described so brilliantly in their dystopiae. 2003, Luciano Pellicani, Revolutionary Apocalypse: Ideological Roots of Terrorism, Westport, Conn.; London: Praeger, →ISBN, page 233:
   • 2. FEAR OF TECHNOLOGY/THE BOMB/THE FUTURE—Progress run amok, either in the form of cybernetic creatures that turn against their masters, or future dystopiae in which society is controlled by technology. 1997, Jeff Yang, Dina Gan, Terry Hong, the staff of A. Magazine, Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture: from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism, Mariner Books, →ISBN, page 57:
   • Like many dystopiae, it ends up with the lead characters wandering into a sylvan wilderness (an English wood) away from the nasty city. 2017, Kim Newman, Kim Newman’s Video Dungeon: The Collected Reviews, Titan Books, →ISBN:
2. (countable, uncountable) Anatomical tissue that is not found in its usual place.
   • Surgical treatment of congenital testicular dystopiae. (B. Kleinteich et al.) Zentralbl. Chir. 1979, 104, 736. 1979, British Journal of Urology, page xlv:
   • While harelips were mostly associated with dystopiae of the incisor teeth, median jaw fusion was accompanied by characteristic dental fusion. 1968, Walter Ritter, Kraniofaziale Dysplasien und Störungen der Zahnentwicklung:
   • Davis, J. E. (J. Urol., Vol. xx-155, 1928), writing on the surgical pathology of malformation in the kidneys and ureters, classifies these anomalies into three groups: (a) anomalies of position (dystopiae). 1930 January 16, The New England Journal of Medicine, volume 202, number 3, page 126, column 1:
   • The patient suffers from adrenal dystopia.
   • 2. Dystopiæ of separate organs. 1899, Joshua M. Van Cott, Jr., “Pathology of the Fœtus—Anomalies of the Fœtus”, in Charles Jewett, editor, The Practice of Obstetrics by American Authors, New York, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea Brothers & Co., part V (Pathology of Pregnancy), page 325:

Forms

Antonyms

utopia

Deriveds

dystopia canthorum · dystopic · dystopian

Relateds

dysphoria · Orwellian

Synonyms

heterotopia · ectopia · ectopy · anti-utopia · cacotopia · malposition

Translations (52)

fa ویرانشهر (miserable society) · fr dystopie (medical condition) · bn দুঃস্বপ্নলোক (miserable society) · el δυστοπία (miserable society) · tr distopya (medical condition) · pl dystopia (miserable society) · id rat petaka (miserable society) · de Dystopie (medical condition) · tr distopya (miserable society) · pt distopia (miserable society) · bg дистопия (medical condition) · es distopía (miserable society) · nl dystopie (miserable society) · ga diostóipe (miserable society) · ro distopie (miserable society) · fi malpositio (medical condition) · mi ao houmate (miserable society) · gl distopía (miserable society) · fi dystopia (miserable society) · cmn 敵托邦 /敌托邦 (miserable society) · fr contre-utopie (miserable society) · ca antiutopia (miserable society) · ru дисто́пия (miserable society) · cmn 絕望鄉 /绝望乡 (miserable society) · de Mätopie (miserable society) · de Anti-Utopie (miserable society) · fr dystopie (miserable society) · de Gegenutopie (miserable society) · ca distopia (miserable society) · de Dystopie (miserable society) · pt distopia (medical condition) · da dystopi (miserable society) · ja ディストピア (miserable society) · it distopia (miserable society) · eo malutopio (miserable society) · ja 暗黒郷 (miserable society) · ru дистопи́я (medical condition) · eo malutopio (medical condition) · ru дистопи́я (miserable society) · cy dystopia (miserable society) · vi phản địa đàng (miserable society) · ko 디스토피아 (miserable society) · ru антиуто́пия (miserable society) · it distopia (medical condition) · hi रावणराज्य (miserable society) · ko 반이상향 (miserable society) · nan 絕望鄉 /绝望乡 (miserable society) · cmn 反烏托邦 /反乌托邦 (miserable society) · uk антиуто́пія (miserable society) · hu disztópia (miserable society) · sv dystopi (miserable society) · id malaposisi (medical condition)