Definition of UTOPIA

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In 1516, English humanist Sir Thomas More published a book titled Utopia. It compared social and economic conditions in Europe with those of an ideal society on an imaginary island located off the coast of the Americas. More wanted to imply that the perfect conditions on his fictional island could never really exist, so he called it Utopia, a name he created by combining the Greek words ou (meaning "no, not") and topos (meaning "place," a root used in our word topography). The earliest generic use of utopia was for an imaginary and indefinitely remote place. The current use of utopia, referring to an ideal place or society, was inspired by More's description of Utopia's perfection.

Examples of utopia in a Sentence

The town's founders wanted to create a Christian utopia. It's a nice place to live, but it's no Utopia.

Recent Examples on the Web

As waves of refugees flee the socialist utopia, bad actors ranging from Vladimir Putin to Hezbollah are nosing around in the ruins of the Bolivarian republic. — Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, "The Return of James Monroe," 6 Aug. 2018 His work is instantaneous commentary on the concrete utopia. — Alexandra Lange, Curbed, "Concrete utopia," 12 July 2018 In Raniere’s Randian utopia, true value exchange was always upheld. — Vanessa Grigoriadis, New York Times, "The ‘Sex Cult’ That Preached Empowerment," 30 May 2018 The stories of Better Worlds are not intended to be conflict-free utopias or Pollyanna-ish paeans about how tech will solve everything; many are set in societies where people face challenges, sometimes life-threatening ones. — The Verge, "Better Worlds," 5 Dec. 2018 One night, driving home from dropping off a vintage car to tech prodigy Eron (Harrison Gilbertson), the technological utopia proves fallible. — Katie Walsh, kansascity, "‘Upgrade’: Silly cyberpunk with a timely message about our high-tech world," 31 May 2018 Although Barnsdall’s dreams of a creative utopia never came to fruition, today this public park is home to one of the best spots for sunbathing in Los Angeles. — Hadley Meares, Los Angeles Magazine, "10 Historic L.A. Places to Visit on a Sunny Day," 14 May 2018 This utopia/dystopia tension has always been part of the city’s DNA, and in these early pages, Krist leans heavily on the negative side. — Leo Braudy, New York Times, "Los Angeles as the City of Dreams, and Nightmares," 1 June 2018 Hot off the United Nations warning us about the impending effects of global warming, Cities: Skylines is getting an Industries expansion—like the polar opposite of last year’s Green Cities utopia. — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, "This week in games: Walking Dead resurrected, Baldur's Gate 3 rumors, Into the Breach done quick," 12 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'utopia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.