utopia

/juˈtoʊpiə/

/juˈtʌʊpiə/

Other forms: utopias

Utopia is a perfect paradise that doesn’t exist, but which we all dream of anyway. In the dead of winter, we might imagine a utopia full of palm trees, warm breezes, and sun-soaked beaches.

Utopia didn't evolve from Latin or another old foreign language. Author Thomas More actually created the noun in one of his books to describe an imaginary island where all systems—political, social, and legal—are perfect and operate harmoniously. The definition of utopia was later broadened to imply any perfect place. The opposite of utopia is dystopia, coined in 1868 by J.S. Mill to describe an “imaginary bad place.”

Definitions of utopia

1. noun

   ideally perfect state; especially in its social and political and moral aspects
   antonyms:

   dystopia

   state in which the conditions of life are extremely bad as from deprivation or oppression or terror

   type of:

   state

   the way something is with respect to its main attributes
2. noun

   a work of fiction describing a utopia
   type of:

   fiction

   a literary work based on the imagination and not necessarily on fact