Definition

1. Noun (Uncountable):

   • Literature created from imagination: The general category or genre of written works, such as novels and short stories, that describe imaginary people, events, and worlds. It is the opposite of non-fiction.
   • Something invented or imagined: An idea, statement, or narrative that is not true or is invented, not necessarily in a literary context.

2. Noun (Countable):

   • A specific invented story or idea: A particular instance of something that is not true.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Uncountable):

  • She enjoys reading fiction more than history books.
  • The line between fiction and reality is often blurred in his writing.
  • His excuse was pure fiction.

• Noun (Countable):

  • He told a convincing fiction about where he had been.
  • The novel is a beautiful fiction about a lost civilization.

Advanced Usage

• "Legal fiction": A factual assumption made by a court to allow a rule or law to operate, even if it is not strictly true. For example, treating a corporation as a "person" in law is a legal fiction.
  • The court employed a legal fiction to hear the case.

Variants and Related Words

• Fictional (adjective): Relating to or occurring in fiction; invented.
  • The story is set in a fictional town.
• Fictitious (adjective): Not real or true; imaginary or fabricated.
  • He used a fictitious name to register.
• Non-fiction (noun): Writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as history or biography.

Synonyms

• Fabrication: Something invented or concocted, often to deceive.
• Invention: Something created by the imagination.
• Novel/Story (for literary works): A long written narrative about imaginary characters and events.
• Figment: An imaginary thing, often used in the phrase "a figment of [one's] imagination."

Related Phrases

• Science fiction: A genre of fiction that imaginatively explores futuristic concepts like advanced science, technology, space exploration, and alien life.
  • "Dune" is a classic work of science fiction.
• Historical fiction: A genre where the story is set in the past, blending historical facts with fictional characters or events.
  • She writes historical fiction about the Tudor period.

Related Idioms

• "Truth is stranger than fiction": Real events are often more surprising or bizarre than stories that are invented.
  • When I heard what really happened, I realized truth is stranger than fiction.

Noun

1. a deliberately false or improbable account
2. a literary work based on the imagination and not necessarily on fact