Agency Dictionary
dystopia
nounPronunciation: /dɪsˈtoʊ.pi.ə/
In Portuguese: distopia
Writing & Narrative
Society & PoliticsWhat does “dystopia” mean?
An imagined state or society characterized by pervasive human suffering, totalitarian rule, or ecological ruin.
Etymology
Formed on the model of utopia with the Greek prefix dys- ("bad, hard") and topos ("place"). Utopia, the title Thomas More gave his book of 1516, means "no place", from Greek ou ("not"), but was soon also read as eu-topia, "good place", and dystopia answers that reading. John Stuart Mill used the form dys-topians in a speech to the British Parliament in 1868. The noun became common only in the middle of the 20th century, with the fiction of imagined oppressive societies.
Usage note
A dystopia is an imagined society, usually set in the future; post-apocalyptic stories, in which society has collapsed, are a neighbouring genre and not the same thing.
Synonyms
- anti-utopia
- cacotopia
- nightmare world
Word family
- dystopian
- dystopic
Rhymes with
- cornucopia
- myopia
- Ethiopia
Usage examples
Blade Runner is a movie from 1982 that represents the true cornerstone of a sci-fi dystopia in cinema.
Concepts
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Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
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