See handwavium on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for handwavium meaning in All languages combined (3.8kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "hand waving",
"3": "-ium",
"t2": "the chemical element suffix"
},
"expansion": "hand waving + -ium (“the chemical element suffix”)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "hand waving + -ium (“the chemical element suffix”).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "handwavium (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"hand‧wav‧i‧um"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms suffixed with -ium",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Fiction",
"orig": "en:Fiction",
"parents": [
"Artistic works",
"Art",
"Culture",
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Fictional materials",
"orig": "en:Fictional materials",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Plot devices",
"orig": "en:Plot devices",
"parents": [
"Fiction",
"Narratology",
"Artistic works",
"Drama",
"Literature",
"Art",
"Theater",
"Culture",
"Entertainment",
"Writing",
"Society",
"Human behaviour",
"Language",
"All topics",
"Human",
"Communication",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2008 February 3, Jacey Bedford <jacey@artisan-harmony.com>, “Handwavium”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet)",
"text": "My handwavium was an invented mineral, but - reading up - what about platinum? Could I substitute platinum for handwavium?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2008 March, Alexander Jablokov, “The Boarder”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 114, number 3, Concord, N.H.: Fantasy House, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9",
"text": "It made no sense to him that their very impossibility was their pleasure. He puzzled over the spacecraft and their handwavium drives. \"The thousand and one nights of Scheherazade, told by an engineering student who failed his graduation exams,\" was his literary judgment.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Imogen Howson, Blood of the Volcano, Cincinnati, Oh.: Samhain Publishing, page 167",
"text": "She writes romantic fantasy and science fiction, and makes liberal use of the substance known as handwavium.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties."
],
"id": "en-handwavium-en-noun-ibFQHjSr",
"links": [
[
"fiction",
"fiction"
],
[
"hypothetical",
"hypothetical"
],
[
"unobtainable",
"unobtainable"
],
[
"material",
"material"
],
[
"desirable",
"desirable"
],
[
"engineering",
"engineering"
],
[
"properties",
"property"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(informal, fiction) Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "handwave"
},
{
"word": "hand waving"
},
{
"word": "handwaving"
},
{
"word": "handwavy"
},
{
"word": "wave of the hand"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "unobtainium"
}
],
"tags": [
"informal",
"uncountable"
],
"topics": [
"fiction",
"literature",
"media",
"publishing"
],
"wikipedia": [
"handwavium"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/handˈweɪ.vi.əm/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/hændˈweɪ.vi.əm/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/97/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/97/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "handwavium"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "hand waving",
"3": "-ium",
"t2": "the chemical element suffix"
},
"expansion": "hand waving + -ium (“the chemical element suffix”)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "hand waving + -ium (“the chemical element suffix”).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "handwavium (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"hand‧wav‧i‧um"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "handwave"
},
{
"word": "hand waving"
},
{
"word": "handwaving"
},
{
"word": "handwavy"
},
{
"word": "wave of the hand"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English 4-syllable words",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English informal terms",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms suffixed with -ium",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with quotations",
"English uncountable nouns",
"en:Fiction",
"en:Fictional materials",
"en:Plot devices"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2008 February 3, Jacey Bedford <jacey@artisan-harmony.com>, “Handwavium”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet)",
"text": "My handwavium was an invented mineral, but - reading up - what about platinum? Could I substitute platinum for handwavium?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2008 March, Alexander Jablokov, “The Boarder”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 114, number 3, Concord, N.H.: Fantasy House, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9",
"text": "It made no sense to him that their very impossibility was their pleasure. He puzzled over the spacecraft and their handwavium drives. \"The thousand and one nights of Scheherazade, told by an engineering student who failed his graduation exams,\" was his literary judgment.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Imogen Howson, Blood of the Volcano, Cincinnati, Oh.: Samhain Publishing, page 167",
"text": "She writes romantic fantasy and science fiction, and makes liberal use of the substance known as handwavium.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties."
],
"links": [
[
"fiction",
"fiction"
],
[
"hypothetical",
"hypothetical"
],
[
"unobtainable",
"unobtainable"
],
[
"material",
"material"
],
[
"desirable",
"desirable"
],
[
"engineering",
"engineering"
],
[
"properties",
"property"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(informal, fiction) Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties."
],
"tags": [
"informal",
"uncountable"
],
"topics": [
"fiction",
"literature",
"media",
"publishing"
],
"wikipedia": [
"handwavium"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/handˈweɪ.vi.əm/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/hændˈweɪ.vi.əm/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/97/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/97/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-handwavium.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "unobtainium"
}
],
"word": "handwavium"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). 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.
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