- [uncountable] a type of literature that describes imaginary people and events, not real ones
- a work of popular fiction
- historical/romantic/crime fiction
- to write/read fiction
- a crime fiction writer
Collocations LiteratureLiteratureBeing a writer- write/publish literature/poetry/fiction/a book/a story/a poem/a novel/a review/an autobiography
- become a writer/novelist/playwright
- find/have a publisher/an agent
- have a new book out
- edit/revise/proofread a book/text/manuscript
- dedicate a book/poem to…
- construct/create/weave/weave something into a complex narrative
- advance/drive the plot
- introduce/present the protagonist/a character
- describe/depict/portray a character (as…)/(somebody as) a hero/villain
- create an exciting/a tense atmosphere
- build/heighten the suspense/tension
- evoke/capture the pathos of the situation
- convey emotion/an idea/an impression/a sense of…
- engage the reader
- seize/capture/grip the (reader’s) imagination
- arouse/elicit emotion/sympathy (in the reader)
- lack imagination/emotion/structure/rhythm
- use/employ language/imagery/humour/(US English) humor/an image/a symbol/a metaphor/a device
- use/adopt/develop a style/technique
- be rich in/be full of symbolism
- evoke images of…/a sense of…/a feeling of…
- create/achieve an effect
- maintain/lighten the tone
- introduce/develop an idea/a theme
- inspire a novel/a poet/somebody’s work/somebody’s imagination
- read an author/somebody’s work/fiction/poetry/a text/a poem/a novel/a chapter/a passage
- review a book/a novel/somebody’s work
- give something/get/have/receive a good/bad review
- be hailed (as)/be recognized as a masterpiece
- quote a(n) phrase/line/stanza/passage/author
- provoke/spark discussion/criticism
- study/interpret/understand a text/passage
- translate somebody’s work/a text/a passage/a novel/a poem
Extra ExamplesTopics Literature and writinga2- She has written novels and short fiction.
- a well-known writer of crime fiction
- She has written over 20 works of fiction.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- contemporary
- modern
- classic
- …
- publish
- write
- create
- …
- a work of fiction
- a writer of fiction
- [uncountable, countable] a thing that is invented or imagined and is not true
- Don't believe what she says—it's pure fiction!
- fiction that… For years he managed to keep up the fiction that he was not married.
Extra Examples- She still tries to maintain the fiction that she is happily married.
- Fact and fiction became all jumbled up in his report of the robbery.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- pure
- legal
- keep up
- maintain
- create
- …
- fact and fiction
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘invented statement’): via Old French from Latin fictio(n-), from fingere ‘form, contrive’. Compare with feign and figment.
Idioms
See fiction in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee fiction in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishtruth is stranger than fiction
- (saying) used to say that things that actually happen are often more surprising than stories that are invented
Check pronunciation:
fiction