dystopia
noun
dys·to·pia
| \ (ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə
\
\
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
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. 2018 Perhaps thinking of us all as migrants offers us a way out of this looming dystopia. — National Geographic, "In the 21st century, we are all migrants," 17 July 2019 This is the way dystopia happens, Years and Years says: Not with a bang, but with a series of exhausted shrugs. — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, "The Near-Future Shock of Years and Years," 23 June 2019 And this is where the modern world veers toward dystopia. — Linda Rodriguez Mcrobbie, BostonGlobe.com, "Why we shop and shop and shop," 21 June 2019 Describing Love Island like a modern dating reality TV dystopia isn’t a full or fair picture, though. — James Hibberd, EW.com, "CBS braces for risqué Love Island as producer breaks silence on U.S. version," 18 June 2019These 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
\ -ˈtō-pik
, -ˈtäp-ik
\
adjective
, -ˈtäp-ik
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adjective