Steampunk
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian style and aesthetics, such as steam-powered machines and vehicles, visible gears and screws and people dressed in 19th-century attires. uncountable
"There's railroad trains, a lot of steam-driven stuff, but that's about it. More ‘steam punk’, I suppose."
- 2 A subgenre of speculative science fiction set in an anachronistic 19th century society. wordnet
- 3 A writer of steampunk fiction. countable
"Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, [James] Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like steam-punks, perhaps..."
- 4 A person cosplaying as a steampunk character. countable
"It wound up being an overwhelmingly positive experience that made me appreciate the steampunks around me even more."
- 1 To depict in a steampunk manner. transitive
"[Director Paul W.S.] Anderson's answer to the question of what to update in this film seems to be: steampunk everything. Hence the elaborate airship contraptions and weapons, all made in wood and iron and powered by choo-choo engines. What seems to be missing is the why. When far-fetched techno-bits and bobs are put into a story, these items must have a meaning and purpose. Here, the gadgets are throwaway items used for their visual effect, then discarded."
Example
More examples"This game has a steampunk setting, so expect to wear top hats and smoking jackets."
Etymology
From steam + -punk, by analogy with cyberpunk, coined by science-fiction writer Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) in a 1987 letter to the magazine Locus in response to a review of his book Infernal Devices published the same year (see the quotation below).
Related phrases
More for "steampunk"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.