sci-fi
Americanadjective
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of sci-fi
First recorded in 1950–55; by shortening
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Online, Moreno-Gama used the handle Butlerian Jihadist, referencing a fictional war between humans and thinking machines from the sci-fi classic “Dune.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Mel Brooks’ ‘Spaceballs’ put a comedic dent in the sci-fi genre when it crashed onto the space-opera scene in 1987.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
In a totalitarian sci-fi world, a hammer thrown by a young athlete smashes a "Big Brother" figure declaiming to brainwashed citizens from a vast screen.
From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026
One of them, XPrize & Singularity University founder and chair Peter H. Diamandis, just launched a $3.5 million fund to promote optimistic sci-fi films to counter the AI doomsday narrative.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026
Deborah realized these movies were fiction, but for her the line between sci-fi and reality had blurred years earlier, when her father got that first call saying Henrietta’s cells were still alive.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
