dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia (ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə 

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

Examples of dystopia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the 1930s, when people all over Europe were refusing to believe the Nazis’ genocidal intent, British novelist Katharine Burdekin published Swastika Night, a dystopia in which fascists keep women like cattle. —David Renton may 12, Literary Hub, 12 May 2025

Costume designer Sarah Evelyn’s excellent work make the dystopia feel uncomfortably normal and exceptionally realistic. —Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025

The author puts her abiding preoccupations — with conformity, sexuality and family — in a petri dish and incubates a disquieting dystopia in which artificial insemination has become the global norm. —Madeleine Feeny, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025

The Handmaid's Tale's final season saw a revolution come to Gilead, with the abused women of this dystopia rising up to slaughter the patriarchal class and take back the U.S. —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 27 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

dys- + -topia (in utopia)

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dystopia

• amblyopia
• cornucopia
• hyperopia
• atropia
• cecropia
• diplopia
• myopia
• utopia
• hypermetropia

Kids Definition

dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia

(ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə

: an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly

also : a work of literature about such a place

dystopian

-ən

adjective

Medical Definition

dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia dis-ˈtō-pē-ə 

: malposition of an anatomical part

dystopic

-ˈtō-pik  -ˈtäp-ik 

adjective