dystopia
noun
dys·to·pia
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Definition of dystopia
1
: an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives
There's almost a flavor of science fiction to the scenes Chilson describes, as though he were giving us a glimpse into a 21st-century dystopia of mad egoism and hurtling hulks of metal.— Adam Goodheart Over the course of the movie, the late-60's ideal of togetherness turns into a dystopia of violence, revulsion and finally death.— John Leland
2
: anti-utopia sense 2
writing a dystopia … leaping across the century to the 1990's to attempt a dystopia about the disintegration of Australian democracy into startling, irreversible despotism.— Pearl K. Bell
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Examples of dystopia in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
At least China is honest about its surveillance dystopia. — David Carroll, Quartz, "China embraces its surveillance state. The US pretends it doesn’t have one," 23 July 2019 Over the past year, two new novels have come out that attempt to follow in The Handmaid’s Tale’s footsteps and position themselves as the feminist dystopias of the Trump era. — Constance Grady, Vox, "How 3 feminist dystopias are trying to update The Handmaid’s Tale for today," 29 Aug. 2018 The Passengers, a new novel from author John Marrs which was released Aug. 27 in the US, takes that dystopia a step further. — Hanna Kozlowska, Quartzy, "A new thriller novel offers up twisted scenarios of the tech revolution gone wrong," 28 Aug. 2019 Mr Song suggests that, by contrast, Chinese sci-fi makes a dystopia out of the act of discovery itself, often presenting the truth as not worth knowing, or not worth the risk. — The Economist, "China’s grand, gloomy sci-fi is going global," 22 June 2019 Collins set the Hunger Games books in a post-apocalyptic dystopia where young people must fight and kill each other, on live television. — Hillel Italie, Dallas News, "'Hunger Games' prequel novel coming in 2020," 18 June 2019 Tech dystopias abound, from Westworld to Black Mirror, along with such angry-Earth fare as the Brazilian Netflix hit 3%. — Judy Berman, Time, "HBO's Quasi-Dystopian Years and Years Is the Future Liberals Fear," 22 June 2019 El mundo de la mujer (The World of Women), a short 1972 documentary by the Argentine filmmaker Maria Luisa Bemberg, founder of Argentina’s Feminist Union, sums up all the horror of the era’s particular gender dystopia. — Esther Allen, The New York Review of Books, "Returning the Gaze, with a Vengeance," 8 July 2018 Our visions of survival and dystopia were far flung or all consuming. — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, "Why ‘iZombie’ is the only zombie show you need in 2018," 2 Mar. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dystopia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for dystopia
dystopia
noun
English Language Learners Definition of dystopia
: an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly
See the full definition for dystopia in the English Language Learners Dictionary
dystopia
noun
dys·to·pia
| \ dis-ˈtō-pē-ə
\
\
Medical Definition of dystopia
: malposition of an anatomical part
Other Words from dystopia
dystopic
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adjective
, -ˈtäp-ik
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adjective