dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia (ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə 

1

: an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives

There's almost a flavor of science fiction to the scenes Chilson describes, as though he were giving us a glimpse into a 21st-century dystopia of mad egoism and hurtling hulks of metal.

—Adam Goodheart

Over the course of the movie, the late-60's ideal of togetherness turns into a dystopia of violence, revulsion and finally death.

—John Leland

2

: anti-utopia sense 2

writing a dystopia

… leaping across the century to the 1990's to attempt a dystopia about the disintegration of Australian democracy into startling, irreversible despotism.

—Pearl K. Bell

Examples of dystopia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Audiences compared the event to The Hunger Games, a dystopia where the wealthy sit back as everyone else fights to the death. —Mia Sato, The Verge, 15 May 2024

Where the look of the band’s late-Eighties Steel Wheels tour was meant to evoke a dystopia and their mid-Nineties Voodoo Lounge tour reflected internet culture for the entirety of the concert, Hackney Diamonds changes from song to song, almost like sliding TikToks. —Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2024

All demographics participate, though the elders sustain similar impulses on Facebook, now Meta, now metabolized by millennials and Gen Z into an antique or filial address book, a distant dystopia. —Harmony Holiday, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2024

The outside world is dystopia that's slowly killing all humans, but the perfect life of Plymouth Valley is just a facade that hides a community that's rotten at its core. —Gabino Iglesias, NPR, 16 Apr. 2024

This week, reports said Coppola was struggling to find a splashy distribution deal for his 135-minute epic, about a dystopia in the throes of an energy revolution. —Matt Donnelly, Variety, 10 Apr. 2024

So advanced were their dystopias’ technology that even viewers at home couldn’t tell human and AI apart. —Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2024

Libya soon degenerated into a violent dystopia and sanctuary for international terrorists and human traffickers. —Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 2 Feb. 2024

Yet another origin story, the film revitalizes the YA dystopia by showing the backstory of Coriolanus Snow, who will one day preside over Katniss Everdeen’s time in the arena. —Shania Russell, EW.com, 17 Dec. 2023

Word History

Etymology

dys- + -topia (in utopia)

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia

(ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə

: an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly

also : a work of literature about such a place

dystopian

-ən

adjective

Medical Definition

dystopia

noun

dys·​to·​pia dis-ˈtō-pē-ə 

: malposition of an anatomical part

dystopic

-ˈtō-pik  -ˈtäp-ik 

adjective