Dictionary

dystopian en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /dɪsˈtoʊ.pi.ən/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree English dystopia Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Old French -ainder. Middle English -an English -an English dystopian From dystopia + -an.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to a dystopia.
   • In my book Britain has actually worked out how it wants to leave and the EU is preparing a new constitution as a result. The real Brexit is actually much more dystopian. 2019 June 30, Philip Oltermann, quoting Tom Hillenbrand, “German sci-fi fans lap up dystopian tales of Brexit Britain”, in The Guardian:
   • He kept thinking about an episode of “Black Mirror,” the British dystopian anthology series, in which the characters rate everyone they interact with on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. (It doesn’t end well.) 2020 January 17, Amy Chozick, “This Is the Guy Who’s Taking Away the Likes”, in New York Times:
   • A pioneer of modern AI and Meta’s chief AI scientist, LeCun is one of the technology’s most vocal defenders. He scoffs at his peers’ dystopian scenarios of supercharged misinformation and even, eventually, human extinction. 2023 December 22, Steven Levy, “How Not to Be Stupid About AI, With Yann LeCun”, in Wired, →ISSN:
   • If Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games turns up on middle-school curricula 50 years from now—and as accessible dystopian science fiction with allusions to early-21st-century strife, that isn’t out of the question—the lazy students of the future can be assured that they can watch the movie version and still get better than a passing grade. 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club:
   • The whole city is immersed in a dystopian-looking smog: urban streets in sepia, emptier than usual, bathed in an eerie quiet. 2023 June 7, Samira Asma-Sadeque, “‘It’s too much’: New Yorkers don masks or stay inside amid smog crisis”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2. Dire; characterized by human suffering or misery.

Forms

Coordinates

nightmarish

Deriveds

dystopianism · antidystopian

Relateds

dysphoric

Translations (19)

fi dystopinen (pertaining to a dystopia) · fa ویرانشهری (pertaining to a dystopia) · es distópico (pertaining to a dystopia) · pt distópico (pertaining to a dystopia) · tr distopik (pertaining to a dystopia) · vi phản địa đàng (pertaining to a dystopia) · th ดิสโทเปีย (pertaining to a dystopia) · fr dystopique (pertaining to a dystopia) · fr dystopiste (pertaining to a dystopia) · de dystopisch (pertaining to a dystopia) · el δυστοπικός (pertaining to a dystopia) · cy dystopaidd (pertaining to a dystopia) · fr contre-utopique (pertaining to a dystopia) · it distopico (pertaining to a dystopia) · sv dystopisk (pertaining to a dystopia) · nl dystopisch (pertaining to a dystopia) · eo malutopia (pertaining to a dystopia) · ro distopic (pertaining to a dystopia) · fr contre-utopiste (pertaining to a dystopia)