"alternative history" meaning in All languages combined

See alternative history on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈɔːltɜːnətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈɒltənətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-ˌhɪstəɹi/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-ˌhɪst(ə)ɹɪ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈɔltɚnətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/ [General-American], /-ˌhɪstəɹi/ [General-American], /ˈɑl.tɚ.nətɪv-/ [General-American] Forms: alternative histories [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-|+}} alternative history (usually uncountable, plural alternative histories)
  1. Counterfactual history, a form of scientific speculation used by historians. Tags: uncountable, usually Synonyms: alternate history, allohistory (english: both senses) Hypernyms: speculative fiction
    Sense id: en-alternative_history-en-noun-byMPHUd4 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Alternate history, History Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 54 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 75 25 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 45 55 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 47 53 Disambiguation of Alternate history: 68 32 Disambiguation of History: 76 24 Related terms: alternative timeline, alternative universe, counterfactual, darkest timeline, worst timeline, gaslight romance, parallel universe, point of divergence, retrofuture, steampunk, what if, what-if
  2. (fiction) A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history). Tags: uncountable, usually
    Sense id: en-alternative_history-en-noun-jICXaKS3 Categories (other): Fiction, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 54 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 45 55 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 47 53 Topics: fiction, literature, media, publishing
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "alternative histories",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "+"
      },
      "expansion": "alternative history (usually uncountable, plural alternative histories)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "45 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "68 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Alternate history",
          "orig": "en:Alternate history",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "History",
          "orig": "en:History",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              118,
              137
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014 May 26, Konstantin Sheiko, Stephen Brown, History as Therapy: Alternative History and Nationalist Imaginings in Russia:",
          "text": "One of the many criticisms that can be directed at alternative historians is their failure to think historically. For alternative history, the past is not a ‘foreign country’, but rather a country that closely resembles the Russian Empire of recent times.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Counterfactual history, a form of scientific speculation used by historians."
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "speculative fiction"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-alternative_history-en-noun-byMPHUd4",
      "links": [
        [
          "Counterfactual",
          "counterfactual"
        ],
        [
          "speculation",
          "speculation"
        ],
        [
          "historian",
          "historian"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "alternative timeline"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "alternative universe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "counterfactual"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "darkest timeline"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "worst timeline"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "gaslight romance"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "parallel universe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "point of divergence"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "retrofuture"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "steampunk"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "what if"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "what-if"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "word": "alternate history"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "74 26",
          "english": "both senses",
          "translation": "both senses",
          "word": "allohistory"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Fiction",
          "orig": "en:Fiction",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "45 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history)."
      ],
      "id": "en-alternative_history-en-noun-jICXaKS3",
      "links": [
        [
          "fiction",
          "fiction"
        ],
        [
          "genre",
          "genre"
        ],
        [
          "fiction",
          "fiction"
        ],
        [
          "ahistorical",
          "ahistorical"
        ],
        [
          "point",
          "point"
        ],
        [
          "divergence",
          "divergence"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fiction) A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fiction",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɔːltɜːnətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɒltənətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˌhɪstəɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˌhɪst(ə)ɹɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɔltɚnətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˌhɪstəɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɑl.tɚ.nətɪv-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "alternative history"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Alternate history",
    "en:History"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "alternative histories",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "+"
      },
      "expansion": "alternative history (usually uncountable, plural alternative histories)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "word": "speculative fiction"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "alternative timeline"
    },
    {
      "word": "alternative universe"
    },
    {
      "word": "counterfactual"
    },
    {
      "word": "darkest timeline"
    },
    {
      "word": "worst timeline"
    },
    {
      "word": "gaslight romance"
    },
    {
      "word": "parallel universe"
    },
    {
      "word": "point of divergence"
    },
    {
      "word": "retrofuture"
    },
    {
      "word": "steampunk"
    },
    {
      "word": "what if"
    },
    {
      "word": "what-if"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              118,
              137
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014 May 26, Konstantin Sheiko, Stephen Brown, History as Therapy: Alternative History and Nationalist Imaginings in Russia:",
          "text": "One of the many criticisms that can be directed at alternative historians is their failure to think historically. For alternative history, the past is not a ‘foreign country’, but rather a country that closely resembles the Russian Empire of recent times.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Counterfactual history, a form of scientific speculation used by historians."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Counterfactual",
          "counterfactual"
        ],
        [
          "speculation",
          "speculation"
        ],
        [
          "historian",
          "historian"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Fiction"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fiction",
          "fiction"
        ],
        [
          "genre",
          "genre"
        ],
        [
          "fiction",
          "fiction"
        ],
        [
          "ahistorical",
          "ahistorical"
        ],
        [
          "point",
          "point"
        ],
        [
          "divergence",
          "divergence"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fiction) A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fiction",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɔːltɜːnətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɒltənətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˌhɪstəɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˌhɪst(ə)ɹɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɔltɚnətɪv ˌhɪstɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˌhɪstəɹi/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɑl.tɚ.nətɪv-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "alternate history"
    },
    {
      "english": "both senses",
      "translation": "both senses",
      "word": "allohistory"
    }
  ],
  "word": "alternative history"
}

Download raw JSONL data for alternative history meaning in All languages combined (2.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.