world-building

American  

[wurld-bil-ding] / ˈwɜrldˌbɪl dɪŋ /

world building or worldbuilding

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.

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Other Word Forms

• world-build
  verb (used without object)

Etymology

Origin of world-building

First recorded in 1820–25, referring to or contrasted with the Biblical creation of the world

Example Sentences

They represented the two very different sides of his work as a production designer: the fantastical world-building of “Avatar” and the grounded historical realism of “Lincoln.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026

Animator John Whitney used an early computer to produce images for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” in 1958, but the breakthrough into cinematic world-building came in the 1990s with “Terminator 2” and “Toy Story.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

When movies are treated as malleable, disposable world-building over actual filmmaking, it’s no wonder that the stars of MCU movies don’t seem to care about the films they’re in at all.

From Salon • Jul. 25, 2025

"A lot of these books have strong world-building, amazing character development and a really good plot," Sarah says.

From BBC • Jun. 20, 2025

They’d spent a small fortune on in-app purchases: skins and maps in Minecraft, V-Bucks in Fortnite, unlimited lives and gems in a new multiplayer world-building game.

From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty