NYT Dictionary

FICTION

/ˈfɪkʃən/
NounFIC-tionfic-tion · 2 syllablesGrade 4

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Meaning

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

Etymology

Origin: Old English

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *dʰinéǵʰti Proto-Italic *θingō Proto-Italic *fingōder. Latin fingō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin fictiōder. Old French ficcionbor. Middle English ficcioun English fiction 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”); see feign, feint, figment.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

fabricationfigmentfableallegoryapparitionappearancearticleautographbrainchildbubble

Antonyms

documentaryfactnon-fictiontruth

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 6 recorded puzzles:

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