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Fiction

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Fiction
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fic⋅tion

  [fik-shuhn]
Use Fiction in a Sentence
–noun
1. the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form.
2. works of this class, as novels or short stories: detective fiction.
3. something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story: We've all heard the fiction of her being in delicate health.
4. the act of feigning, inventing, or imagining.
5. an imaginary thing or event, postulated for the purposes of argument or explanation.
6. Law. an allegation that a fact exists that is known not to exist, made by authority of law to bring a case within the operation of a rule of law.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < L fictiōn- (s. of fictiō) a shaping, hence a feigning, fiction, equiv. to fict(us) molded (ptp. of fingere) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms:
fic⋅tion⋅al, adjective
fic⋅tion⋅al⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
3. fable, fantasy. Fiction, fabrication, figment suggest a story that is without basis in reality. Fiction suggests a story invented and fashioned either to entertain or to deceive: clever fiction; pure fiction. Fabrication applies particularly to a false but carefully invented statement or series of statements, in which some truth is sometimes interwoven, the whole usually intended to deceive: fabrications to lure speculators. Figment applies to a tale, idea, or statement often made up to explain, justify, or glorify oneself: His rich uncle was a figment of his imagination.

Antonyms:
3. fact.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fic·tion   (fĭk'shən)   
n.  

    1. An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented.

    2. The act of inventing such a creation or pretense.

    3. A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

    4. The category of literature comprising works of this kind, including novels and short stories.

  2. A lie.

    1. A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

    2. The category of literature comprising works of this kind, including novels and short stories.

  4. Law Something untrue that is intentionally represented as true by the narrator.


[Middle English ficcioun, from Old French fiction, from Latin fictiō, fictiōn-, from fictus, past participle of fingere, to form; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]
fic'tion·al adj., fic'tion·al'i·ty (-shə-nāl'ĭ-tē) n., fic'tion·al·ly adv.
Word History: To most people "the latest fiction" means the latest novels or stories rather than the most recently invented pretense or latest lie. All three senses of the word fiction point back to its source, Latin fictiō, "the action of shaping, a feigning, that which is feigned." Fictiō in turn was derived from fingere, "to make by shaping, feign, make up or invent a story or excuse." Our first instance of fiction, recorded in a work composed around 1412, was used in the sense "invention of the mind, that which is imaginatively invented." It is not a far step from this meaning to the sense "imaginative literature," first recorded in 1599.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

fiction

Literature that is a work of the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. Some examples of modern works of fiction are The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

fiction 
1398, "something invented," from L. fictionem (nom. fictio) "a fashioning or feigning," from fingere "to shape, form, devise, feign," originally "to knead, form out of clay," from PIE *dheigh- (cf. O.E. dag "dough"). As a type of literature, 1599. Fictitious is 1615, from M.L. fictitus, a misspelling of L. ficticius "artificial, counterfeit," from fictus, pp. of fingere.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: fic·tion
Function: noun
: LEGAL FICTION —fic·tion·al adjective
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Encyclopedia

fiction

literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story, and novella. The word is from the Latin fictio, "the act of making, fashioning, or molding."

Learn more about fiction with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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