Dictionary

suspension of disbelief en · NOUN

Etymology

Coined by English poet, literary critic and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1817.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The acceptance of people, for the sake of appreciation of art (including literature and the like), of what they know to be a nonfactual premise of the work of art.
   • All films require "suspension of disbelief" to work effectively. And every film creates its own unspoken rules to accomplish this. 2010 June 17, John Landis, “John Landis on why Ray Harryhausen's effects are still so special”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • In science fiction films, suspension of disbelief is essential.
   • On the other hand, Chikamatsu could induce a suspension of disbelief with the same means, thus producing an effect of reality within basic unreality. (The suspension of disbelief is, of course, nothing new to Western audiences.) 1955, Donald Keene, “The Japanese Theatre”, in Japanese Literature, page 63:
   • Characters are either rich, comfortable, or struggling, but we rarely know how rich, how comfortable, or how much they struggle in concrete-enough terms to relate to. Money is involved in every important decision in one’s life; TV characters simply frown at a bank statement or gasp at a hidden figure on a piece of paper. The topic of money requires the most awkward suspension of disbelief in fiction. 2022 January 7, Jordan Calhoun, “The One Thing TV Characters Don’t Talk About”, in Humans Being, The Atlantic:

Forms

Relateds

suspend one's disbelief

Synonyms

willing suspension of disbelief

Translations (9)

hu hitetlenkedés/hitetlenség/kételkedés/kétely felfüggesztése/feladása (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · is frestun vantrúarinnar (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · th การระงับความกังขา (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · ja 不信の停止 (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · pl zawieszenie niewiary (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · cmn 暫時擱置懷疑 /暂时搁置怀疑 (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · fi epäuskon pidättäminen (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · cmn 懷疑暫停 /怀疑暂停 (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise) · fi epäilystä pidättäytyminen (people's acceptance of what they know to be a nonfactual premise)