worldbuilding

worldbuilding

English

Alternative forms

• world-building
• world building

Etymology

world +‎ building

Noun

worldbuilding (uncountable)

1. The conception and description of a fictional world that is the setting of a work of fiction, particularly in fantasy and science fiction.
   • 2013 February 8, Charlie Jane Anders, “7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding”, in io9‎:

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

Coordinate terms

• worldbreaking
• worldmaking

Translations

act or process of building of a fictional world

Armenian: աշխարհկառուցում (ašxarhkaṙucʿum) Czech: světotvorba f Esperanto: konstruo de la mondo, mirostrojeno Finnish: maailmanrakennus German: Weltenbau m Kazakh: миростроение (mirostroenie) Korean: 세계 설정 (segye seoljeong) Kyrgyz: миростроение (mirostroyeniye) Russian: мирострои́тельство (ru) n (mirostroítelʹstvo), мирострое́ние n (mirostrojénije), построение мира n (postrojenije mira), создание мира n (sozdanije mira) Scots: warldbiggin Tagalog: paggawa ng daigdig Ukrainian: миростроение n (myrostroenye) Uzbek: mirastroeniе

References

• “What is 'World-Building'? And how do you spell it?”, in Merriam-Webster‎, 2016