fiction

Etymology

From Middle English ficcioun, from Old French ficcion (“dissimulation, ruse, invention”), from Latin fictiō (“a making, fashioning, a feigning, a rhetorical or legal fiction”), from fingō (“to form, mold, shape, devise, feign”). Displaced native Old English lēasspell (literally “false story”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: fĭk′-shən, IPA^(key): /ˈfɪk.ʃən/

Audio (US):

Duration: 1 second.0:01

• Hyphenation: fic‧tion

• Rhymes: -ɪkʃən

Noun

fiction (countable and uncountable, plural fictions)

1. (literature) Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose.

   I am a great reader of fiction.

   the fiction section of the library

2. A verbal or written account that is not based on actual events (often intended to mislead). [ quotations ▼]

   The company’s accounts contained a number of blatant fictions.

   The butler’s account of the crime was pure fiction.

   separate the fact from the fiction

3. (law) A legal fiction.