cyberpunk

noun

cy·​ber·​punk ˈsī-bər-ˌpəŋk 

1

: science fiction dealing with future urban societies dominated by computer technology

2

: an opportunistic computer hacker

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Cyberpunk and Literature

In science fiction circles, "cyberpunk" is a genre that often features countercultural antiheroes trapped in a dehumanizing high-tech future. Its roots extend back to the technical fiction of the 1940s and '50s, but it was years before it matured. The word cyberpunk was coined by writer Bruce Bethke, who wrote a story with that title in 1980. He created the term by combining "cybernetics," the science of replacing human functions with computerized ones, and "punk," the raucous music and nihilistic sensibility that became a youth culture in the 1970s and '80s. Not until the 1984 publication of William Gibson's novel, Neuromancer, however, did "cyberpunk" really take off as a term or a genre.

Synonyms

• cracker
• hacker

Examples of cyberpunk in a Sentence

the bank had to overhaul its online banking system after a cyberpunk broke into the accounts of thousands of customers

Recent Examples on the Web

For The Matrix, the Wachowskis coaxed a genuinely transcendent performance from Reeves, while also successfully synthesizing a host of inspirations (from cyberpunk literature to anime classics to various strains of philosophy detailing our notions of consciousness). —Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2024

An action movie that featured multiple philosophical threads and a combination of religious imagery from both the East and West, all set in a dystopian future and dotted with cyberpunk jargon did not make for the most executive-pleasing project. —Jordan Runtagh, Peoplemag, 31 Mar. 2024

The project began after the two watched David Cronenberg’s 1983 sci-fi film Videodrome and were inspired by the film’s cyberpunk aesthetics; the album demos were just synths and drum machines. —Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 5 Mar. 2024

An assassin who attacks Adam at a gas station is outfitted in a cyberpunk ensemble; another is a feral Aussie with huge mutton chops. —Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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