Utopia

[ yoo-toh-pee-uh ]
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noun
  1. an imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc.

  2. (usually lowercase) an ideal place or state.

  1. (usually lowercase) any visionary system of political or social perfection.

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Origin of Utopia

1
<New Latin (1516) <Greek ou not + tóp(os) a place + -ia-y3

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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

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British Dictionary definitions for Utopia

Utopia

/ (juːˈtəʊpɪə) /


noun
  1. (sometimes not capital) any real or imaginary society, place, state, etc, considered to be perfect or ideal

Origin of Utopia

1
C16: from New Latin Utopia (coined by Sir Thomas More in 1516 as the title of his book that described an imaginary island representing the perfect society), literally: no place, from Greek ou not + topos a place

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

Cultural definitions for Utopia

Utopia

(1516) A book by Sir Thomas More that describes an imaginary ideal society free of poverty and suffering. The expression utopia is coined from Greek words and means “no place.”

Notes for Utopia

By extension, a “utopia” is any ideal state.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.