dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia (ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə 

1

: an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives

An … electric novel that blurs the lines between dystopia and reality.

—Leigh Haber

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

Budgets can move from funding a surveillance dystopia to funding real safety and stability. —Robin Reichhardt, Denver Post, 25 Nov. 2025

The real dystopia isn’t killer robots. —Erica Dhawan, Fortune, 18 Nov. 2025

That’s one of the many emerging terrors of our brave new funhouse-mirror dystopia of e-scams, cat-phishing, and democracy-destroying propaganda. —New Atlas, 15 Nov. 2025

Glen Powell plays Ben Richards, an honest working man trying to hold his family together in a futuristic hellhole dystopia. —Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 12 Nov. 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