Dictionary

worldbuilding en · NOUN

Etymology

From world + building.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The conception and description of a fictional world, often as the setting of a work of fiction, particularly in speculative fiction.
   • The purpose of worldbuilding isn't just to do a cool exercise, but to give a sense of place — and all of your thought experiments absolutely have to result in something vivid and alive. 2013 February 8, Charlie Jane Anders, “7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding”, in io9, archived from the original on 25 Nov 2016:
   • High fantasy of the George RR Martin kind hinges on world-building. When there really is a whole world to build, and not just a historical period or a particular country, world-building does not take a few paragraphs in a short story; it takes chapters. 2015 May 20, Natasha Pulley, “Fantasy cannot build its imaginary worlds in short fiction”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • A sequel of this magnitude has the ability to reach higher, though, with more creative worldbuilding balancing out the dime-a-dozen pop culture references and cheap gags. 2025 November 25, Caroline Siede, “Zootopia 2 is a stagnant sequel with one stellar subplot”, in AV Club:
2. (obsolete, uncountable) Scientific research into the creation of the Earth and its geological features.
3. (obsolete, uncountable) The world of imagination of novelists, poets, etc.

Forms

Coordinates

worldmaking · worldbreaking

Synonyms

geofiction · conworlding

Translations (21)

ru мирострое́ние (act or process of building of a fictional world) · ko 세계 설정 (act or process of building of a fictional world) · ru мирострои́тельство (act or process of building of a fictional world) · fr cosmopoésie (act or process of building of a fictional world) · sco warldbiggin (act or process of building of a fictional world) · fr worldbuilding (act or process of building of a fictional world) · ru построение мира (act or process of building of a fictional world) · fi maailmanrakennus (act or process of building of a fictional world) · tl paggawa ng daigdig (act or process of building of a fictional world) · uz mirastroeniе (act or process of building of a fictional world) · ru создание мира (act or process of building of a fictional world) · uk світотворення (act or process of building of a fictional world) · hy աշխարհկառուցում (act or process of building of a fictional world) · kk миростроение (act or process of building of a fictional world) · pl światotwórstwo (act or process of building of a fictional world) · bg светоизграждане (act or process of building of a fictional world) · ky миростроение (act or process of building of a fictional world) · de Weltenbau (act or process of building of a fictional world) · cs světotvorba (act or process of building of a fictional world) · eo mirostrojeno (act or process of building of a fictional world) · eo konstruo de la mondo (act or process of building of a fictional world)