1
a
: something invented by the imagination or feigned
specifically
: an invented story
… I'd found out that the story of the ailing son was pure fiction. —
Andrew A. Rooney
Andrew A. Rooney
b
: fictitious literature (such as novels or short stories)
was renowned as a writer of fiction
c
: a work of fiction
2
a
: an assumption of a possibility as a fact irrespective of the question of its truth
a legal fiction
b
: a useful illusion or pretense
it was only a fiction of independence his mother gave him; he was almost totally under her power—G. A. Wagner
G. A. Wagner3
: the action of feigning or of creating with the imagination
She engaged in fiction to escape painful realities.
Examples of fiction in a Sentence
She believes the fiction that crime rates are up.
most stories about famous outlaws of the Old West are fictions that have little or nothing to do with fact
Recent Examples on the Web
This Morning, This Evening (a portrait of a rural Alabama community in which Ross embedded himself), to Nickel Boys, his impressionistic bravura fiction feature debut about two Black boys sent to a reform school in Jim Crow–era Florida.
—Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 22 Feb. 2025
NewsGuard has identified 273 phony news sites of this type with links to Dougan, spreading disinformation that is then repeated by the leading Western chatbots, which NewsGuard has found have a limited ability to distinguish truth from fiction.
—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 21 Feb. 2025
In spite of everything, the setting continues to compel me, as does the puzzle of Flores’s fiction, which frames the South Texas border region as a territory both physical and chimerical.
—David L. Ulin, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025
Many get a quote from D&D fiction that suggests a way for the Dungeon Master to present the monster.
—Rob Wieland, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fiction
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Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 22 Feb. 2025
NewsGuard has identified 273 phony news sites of this type with links to Dougan, spreading disinformation that is then repeated by the leading Western chatbots, which NewsGuard has found have a limited ability to distinguish truth from fiction.
—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 21 Feb. 2025
In spite of everything, the setting continues to compel me, as does the puzzle of Flores’s fiction, which frames the South Texas border region as a territory both physical and chimerical.
—David L. Ulin, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025
Many get a quote from D&D fiction that suggests a way for the Dungeon Master to present the monster.
—Rob Wieland, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fiction
Cite this Entry
“Fiction.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiction. Accessed 2 Mar. 2025.
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