Meaning & use
modern fiction
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Serious stories and novels written in recent times, especially those that explore present-day life and new styles.
Grammar: No plural; use it like 'music' or 'advice': 'She reads modern fiction.'
Patterns
- read modern fiction
- write modern fiction
- a work of modern fiction
The course covers modern fiction from 1900 to the present day.
She prefers modern fiction to classic novels because the characters feel more familiar.
His latest book is a fine example of modern fiction about city life.
noununcountable
Books and stories of this kind considered as a category in bookshops, libraries, or study.
Grammar: Often used before another noun: 'the modern fiction section'.
Patterns
- the modern fiction section
- modern fiction award
- a modern fiction writer
You will find it in the modern fiction section on the second floor.
The prize is given each year for the best modern fiction.
She teaches a class on modern fiction and its themes.
Common combinations
- read modern fiction
- I read modern fiction to understand how people live today.
- write modern fiction
- He writes modern fiction set in small towns.
- modern fiction section
- The modern fiction section is near the window.
- a work of modern fiction
- Her novel is a work of modern fiction that won several prizes.
- contemporary fiction
- Some bookshops label this shelf 'contemporary fiction' instead.
Synonyms and how they differ
- contemporary fiction
- Very close in meaning, but it often stresses that the writing is set now, while 'modern fiction' can include important writing from the last century.
- literary fiction
- This focuses on artistic quality rather than popularity, whereas 'modern fiction' is a broader label that includes many kinds of recent novels.
Word family
- modernist adjective
- Relating to a style that broke with tradition in the early twentieth century.
- modernism noun
- The artistic movement that produced much experimental writing.
Commonly confused: modern fiction or modernist fiction?
modern fiction vs modernist fiction
This is a narrower term for experimental writing of the early 1900s, not all recent fiction.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'modern fiction' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Modern fiction' is uncountable, so it takes no article and no plural: 'reading modern fiction' is correct. The other options treat it as a countable noun, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “modern fiction”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.