dystopian

adjective

dys·​to·​pi·​an (ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ən 

variants or less commonly dystopic

(ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pik  -ˈtä- 

: of, relating to, or being an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives : relating to or characteristic of a dystopia

a dystopian novel

A twisted romantic haunted by dystopian visions, Gibson borrows the language of science fiction and crafts doomed love stories with high-tech trappings.

—Maitland McDonagh

Dystopian visions are in a sense mythopoeic: depicting a creation myth in a future world of darkness and silence.

—Sarah Lefanu

Biotechnology is a force for good, but without adherence to the ideal of universal human equality, it opens the door to the soft tyranny of Gattaca and, ultimately the dystopian nightmare of Brave New World.

—Wesley J. Smith

Like many advances in science and technology, the dystopian implications of data mining have been described best by science-fiction writers.

—John Markoff

… Orwellian has become a word itself: an adjective denoting a dystopic world where language is cut adrift from meaning.

—Harvey A. Daniels

Letter by letter, we read of a society that seems to move from one dystopic nightmare to another …

—Simon Winchester

Examples of dystopian in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Brooker is busy putting pen to paper on the next set of episodes of the dystopian anthology series, which is now one of the streamer’s longest-running shows. —Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 Jan. 2026

By capturing moments automatically and persistently, Poketomo echoes long-standing dystopian ideas of total recall, where forgetting is no longer natural, and where the past is always available, searchable, and impossible to fully leave behind. —Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 8 Jan. 2026

Big fantastical ones, but also ones that feel so normalized and mundane and get extrapolated to their most dystopian and absurd. —Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026

Translating Anthony Burgess’s stylized, dystopian novel for the screen, Kubrick adopts a playful, formal approach that combines colorful, futuristic exuberance with rapid-fire editing, changes in camera speed, and a garish production design that melds space-age and Georgian-era aesthetics. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

dystopian from dystopia + -an entry 2; dystopic from dystopia + -ic entry 1

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dystopian

• bupropion
• fallopian
• utopian
• ethiopian