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Webster 1913 Edition


Fiction

Fic′tion

,
Noun.
[F.
fiction
, L.
fictio
, fr.
fingere
,
fictum
to form, shape, invent, feign. See
Feign
.]
1.
The act of feigning, inventing, or imagining;
as, by a mere
fiction
of the mind
.
Bp. Stillingfleet.
2.
That which is feigned, invented, or imagined; especially, a feigned or invented story, whether oral or written. Hence: A story told in order to deceive; a fabrication; – opposed to fact, or reality.
The
fiction
of those golden apples kept by a dragon.
Sir W. Raleigh.
When it could no longer be denied that her flight had been voluntary, numerous
fictions
were invented to account for it.
Macaulay.
3.
Fictitious literature; comprehensively, all works of imagination; specifically, novels and romances.
The office of
fiction
as a vehicle of instruction and moral elevation has been recognized by most if not all great educators.
Dict. of Education.
4.
(Law)
An assumption of a possible thing as a fact, irrespective of the question of its truth.
Wharton.
Syn. – Fabrication; invention; fable; falsehood.
Fiction
,
Fabrication
. Fiction is opposed to what is real; fabrication to what is true. Fiction is designed commonly to amuse, and sometimes to instruct; a fabrication is always intended to mislead and deceive. In the novels of Sir Walter Scott we have fiction of the highest order. The poems of Ossian, so called, were chiefly fabrications by Macpherson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Fiction

FIC'TION

,
Noun.
[L. fictio, from fingo, to feign.]
1.
The act of feigning, inventing or imagining; as, by the mere fiction of the mind.
2.
That which is feigned, invented or imagined. The story is a fiction.
So also was the fiction of those golden apples kept by a dragon, taken from the serpent which tempted Eve.

Definition 2024


fiction

fiction

English

Noun

fiction (countable and uncountable, plural fictions)

  1. Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose.
    The company’s accounts contained a number of blatant fictions.
    I am a great reader of fiction.
  2. (uncountable) Invention.
    The butler’s account of the crime was pure fiction.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Hypernyms

  • literary type

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

  • fiction section

Translations


French

Etymology

From Latin fictionem (nominative of fictio).

Pronunciation

Noun

fiction f (plural fictions)

  1. fiction

Related terms