world-building

or world·build·ing

[ wurld-bil-ding ]

noun
  1. the process of developing a detailed and plausible fictional world for a novel or story, especially in science fiction, fantasy, and video games: Drawing a convincing map with boundaries and landscape features is a natural starting point for world-building.

Origin of world-building

1
First recorded in 1820–25, referring to or contrasted with the Biblical creation of the world
  • Also world build·ing .

Other words from world-building

  • world-build, verb (used without object)

Words Nearby world-building

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use world-building in a sentence

  • A few days spent upon the rim and in a launch upon the lake will give glimpses of world-building features and nature-history.

    Your National Parks | Enos A. Mills
  • Not long past, a well-dressed Italian of good appearance and address rented an office in the World Building.

    Courts and Criminals | Arthur Train
  • Socialism is henceforth a theory of social evolution, not a scheme of world-building; a spirit, not a thing.

    Socialism | John Spargo
  • In chemistry, a simple little ingredient may give culminating power to a world-building or a world-destroying compound.

    Menticulture | Horace Fletcher
  • This principle of the crystalline formation of the elements is the basis of world building.

    The Universe a Vast Electric Organism | George Woodward Warder