fiction

–noun

1. the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form.

2. works of this class, as novels or short stories: detective fiction.

3. something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story: We've all heard the fiction of her being in delicate health.

4. the act of feigning, inventing, or imagining.

5. an imaginary thing or event, postulated for the purposes of argument or explanation.

6. Law . an allegation that a fact exists that is known not to exist, made by authority of law to bring a case within the operation of a rule of law.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < L fictiōn- (s. of fictiō ) a shaping, hence a feigning, fiction, equiv. to fict ( us ) molded (ptp. of fingere )

—Synonyms
3. fable, fantasy. Fiction, fabrication, figment suggest a story that is without basis in reality. Fiction suggests a story invented and fashioned either to entertain or to deceive: clever fiction; pure fiction. Fabrication applies particularly to a false but carefully invented statement or series of statements, in which some truth is sometimes interwoven, the whole usually intended to deceive: fabrications to lure speculators. Figment applies to a tale, idea, or statement often made up to explain, justify, or glorify oneself: His rich uncle was a figment of his imagination.

—Antonyms
3. fact.

source: fiction. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fiction (accessed: October 15, 2010).


fiction

late 14c., "something invented," from L. fictionem (nom. fictio ) "a fashioning or feigning," from fingere "to shape, form, devise, feign," originally "to knead, form out of clay," from PIE *dheigh- (cf. O.E. dag "dough;" see dough). As a type of literature, 1590s.

source: fiction. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fiction (accessed: October 15, 2010).