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speculative fiction

American  
[spek-yuh-luh-tiv fik-shuhn, -leytiv] / ˈspɛk yə lə tɪv ˈfɪk ʃən, -ˌleɪtɪv /

noun

  1. a broad category of fiction encompassing any story that contains imaginative, futuristic, or supernatural elements.

speculative fiction British  

noun

  1. a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of speculative fiction

Coined in 1947 by Robert A. Heinlein ( def. ) in his essay On the Writing of Speculative Fiction, in which he differentiates between science fiction stories that focus on fictional technologies and stories that focus on the societal impact of such technologies

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.