Definition of "science fiction" [sci•ence fic•tion]

• A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Bob looked inside and saw a robotic-looking electric device that was like something out of an old black and white science fiction movie, with pulleys and fly wheels and an arm along one side; a stack of orange clay disks sat in a kind of magazine assembly up top."
• "The science fiction movie GATTACA depicts a future society in which the genetic factors for susceptibility to disease and human behavior traits have all been identified, and are used diagnostically to optimize the outcome of a mating."
• "My bet is that the Transitorium—the hospice of the future—will turn out to be more than a science fiction fantasy."