Meaning & use
fiction
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Meanings
noununcountable
Stories about imaginary people and events, especially novels and short stories.
Grammar: Uncountable: she reads a lot of fiction, not many fictions.
Patterns
- a work of fiction
- fiction and non-fiction
She writes historical fiction.
The library keeps fiction on the first floor.
I prefer fiction to history books.
nouncountable
Something that is untrue but presented as if it were true.
Grammar: Countable in this sense: a polite fiction, a legal fiction.
Patterns
- a pure fiction
- a polite fiction
His excuse was a complete fiction.
The idea of a perfect family is a fiction.
Word forms
| plural | fictions |
|---|
Common combinations
- work of fiction
- This book is a work of fiction.
- science fiction
- He loves science fiction films.
- pure fiction
- The rumor was pure fiction.
- fact or fiction
- It's hard to separate fact from fiction.
- popular fiction
- She writes popular fiction.
Synonyms and how they differ
- novels
- Covers only long stories, whereas fiction includes short stories and tales too.
- invention
- Something made up, not necessarily a story.
- fabrication
- Stresses a deliberate lie.
Opposites
Word family
- fictional adjective
- invented, not real
- fictitious adjective
- made up, often to deceive
- fictionalize verb
- to turn real events into fiction
Commonly confused: fiction or friction?
fiction vs friction
Friction is rubbing resistance or conflict between people; fiction is invented stories.
Practice
The author says her new book is a work of ___, so its characters are not real.
Choose one answer.
Fiction means invented stories. Friction is a similar-sounding word meaning rubbing or conflict, which does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fiction”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.