Worldbuilding

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The conception and description of a fictional world, often as the setting of a work of fiction, particularly in speculative fiction. uncountable

    "The purpose of worldbuilding isn't just to do a cool exercise, but to give a sense of place — and all of your thought experiments absolutely have to result in something vivid and alive."

  2. 2
    Scientific research into the creation of the Earth and its geological features. obsolete, uncountable
  3. 3
    The world of imagination of novelists, poets, etc. obsolete, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
conworldinggeofiction

Example

More examples

"The purpose of worldbuilding isn't just to do a cool exercise, but to give a sense of place — and all of your thought experiments absolutely have to result in something vivid and alive."

Etymology

From world + building.

Related phrases

science fiction

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.