utopia

Definition

A world in which everything and everyone works in perfect harmony.

Etymology

From New Latin Ūtopia, the name of a fictional island possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. Coined from Ancient Greek οὐ (ou, “not”) + τόπος (tópos, “place, region”) + -ία (-ía). Compare English topos and -ia.

Example Sentences

• "Errors in time must be kept in mind when analyzing myths and utopiae. Utopiae are merely projections, on a less personal and wider scale, of Cinderella’s longing for a happy future."
• "« Some peoples of Central or South Africa have conceived downright utopiae which enable them to build up a reality more tolerable than that in which they have to live daily »."
• "As everyone knows, almost all booked passenger and freight trains are diagrammed into rosters for engines and men, and in an operating Utopia everything would work out daily according to plan."

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