"alternative universe" meaning in English

See alternative universe in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: alternative universes [plural], alternate universe [alternative, US]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} alternative universe (plural alternative universes)
  1. (physics, cosmology) A hypothetical world situated in a different dimension of space and time than the real world consisting of the universe known and experienced by human beings. Synonyms (narrative setting): alternative world, heterocosm, parallel world
    Sense id: en-alternative_universe-en-noun-2kSzSJDp Categories (other): Cosmology, Physics, English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Portuguese translations, Alternate history, Worldbuilding Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 70 30 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 61 39 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 76 24 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 77 23 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 79 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 73 27 Disambiguation of Alternate history: 65 35 Disambiguation of Worldbuilding: 48 52 Topics: astronomy, cosmology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics Disambiguation of 'narrative setting': 60 40
  2. (literature, narratology) An imaginary realm, often a variant form of the real world or of the fictional universe usually depicted in a work, depicting a different way events could have unfolded or the universe could have functioned. Synonyms: alternative dimension, parallel dimension, parallel universe Related terms: allohistory, alternative history, counterfactual, darkest timeline, worst timeline, mirror universe, retrofuture Translations (imaginary realm in literature): universo alternativo [masculine] (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-alternative_universe-en-noun-xog-FDml Categories (other): Literature, Narratology, Worldbuilding Disambiguation of Worldbuilding: 48 52 Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, literature, media, narratology, publishing, sciences Coordinate_terms: dimension, metaverse, multiverse, omniverse, universe, world, brane [physical] [cosmology, astronomy, natural-sciences], bulk [physical] [cosmology, astronomy, natural-sciences], higher-dimensional space [physical] [cosmology, astronomy, natural-sciences], many-worlds [physical] [cosmology, astronomy, natural-sciences], superspace [physical] [cosmology, astronomy, natural-sciences] Disambiguation of 'imaginary realm in literature': 16 84

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "alternative universes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "alternate universe",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "alternative universe (plural alternative universes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Cosmology",
          "orig": "en:Cosmology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Physics",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "70 30",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "61 39",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "65 35",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Alternate history",
          "orig": "en:Alternate history",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Worldbuilding",
          "orig": "en:Worldbuilding",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              326,
              346
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 June 21, Bernard Carr, editor, Universe Or Multiverse?, page 367:",
          "text": "In particular, it has been argued that if any of six (or perhaps a few more) numbers did not have rather particular values, then life as we know it would not be possible; atoms would not exist, or no grativationally bound structures would form in the Universe, or some other calamity would occur that would appear to make the alternative universe a very dull and lifeless place. How, then, did we get so lucky as to be here?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hypothetical world situated in a different dimension of space and time than the real world consisting of the universe known and experienced by human beings."
      ],
      "id": "en-alternative_universe-en-noun-2kSzSJDp",
      "links": [
        [
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          "physics"
        ],
        [
          "cosmology",
          "cosmology"
        ],
        [
          "hypothetical",
          "hypothetical"
        ],
        [
          "world",
          "world"
        ],
        [
          "situate",
          "situate"
        ],
        [
          "dimension",
          "dimension"
        ],
        [
          "space",
          "space"
        ],
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "know",
          "know"
        ],
        [
          "experience",
          "experience"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(physics, cosmology) A hypothetical world situated in a different dimension of space and time than the real world consisting of the universe known and experienced by human beings."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "60 40",
          "sense": "narrative setting",
          "word": "alternative world"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "60 40",
          "sense": "narrative setting",
          "word": "heterocosm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "60 40",
          "sense": "narrative setting",
          "word": "parallel world"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "astronomy",
        "cosmology",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "physics"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "name": "Literature",
          "orig": "en:Literature",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Narratology",
          "orig": "en:Narratology",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
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          "name": "Worldbuilding",
          "orig": "en:Worldbuilding",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "dimension"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "metaverse"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "multiverse"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "omniverse"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "universe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "world"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "tags": [
            "physical"
          ],
          "topics": [
            "cosmology",
            "astronomy",
            "natural-sciences"
          ],
          "word": "brane"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "tags": [
            "physical"
          ],
          "topics": [
            "cosmology",
            "astronomy",
            "natural-sciences"
          ],
          "word": "bulk"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "tags": [
            "physical"
          ],
          "topics": [
            "cosmology",
            "astronomy",
            "natural-sciences"
          ],
          "word": "higher-dimensional space"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "tags": [
            "physical"
          ],
          "topics": [
            "cosmology",
            "astronomy",
            "natural-sciences"
          ],
          "word": "many-worlds"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "tags": [
            "physical"
          ],
          "topics": [
            "cosmology",
            "astronomy",
            "natural-sciences"
          ],
          "word": "superspace"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              143,
              163
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 June 13, S. Sayyid, Recalling the Caliphate – Decolonization and World Order:",
          "text": "This mirroring was marked out by the way in which the Federation of Planets, a voluntary association of different worlds, never existed in the alternative universe; instead we find ourselves confronting a vicious militaristic Terran empire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An imaginary realm, often a variant form of the real world or of the fictional universe usually depicted in a work, depicting a different way events could have unfolded or the universe could have functioned."
      ],
      "id": "en-alternative_universe-en-noun-xog-FDml",
      "links": [
        [
          "literature",
          "literature"
        ],
        [
          "narratology",
          "narratology"
        ],
        [
          "imaginary",
          "imaginary"
        ],
        [
          "realm",
          "realm"
        ],
        [
          "variant",
          "variant"
        ],
        [
          "form",
          "form"
        ],
        [
          "way",
          "way"
        ],
        [
          "unfold",
          "unfold"
        ],
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literature, narratology) An imaginary realm, often a variant form of the real world or of the fictional universe usually depicted in a work, depicting a different way events could have unfolded or the universe could have functioned."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "allohistory"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "alternative history"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "counterfactual"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "darkest timeline"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "worst timeline"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "mirror universe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "retrofuture"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "alternative dimension"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "parallel dimension"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "37 63",
          "word": "parallel universe"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "narratology",
        "publishing",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "imaginary realm in literature",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "universo alternativo"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "alternative universe"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "en:Alternate history",
    "en:Worldbuilding"
  ],
  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "word": "dimension"
    },
    {
      "word": "metaverse"
    },
    {
      "word": "multiverse"
    },
    {
      "word": "omniverse"
    },
    {
      "word": "universe"
    },
    {
      "word": "world"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "physical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "cosmology",
        "astronomy",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "brane"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "physical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "cosmology",
        "astronomy",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "bulk"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "physical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "cosmology",
        "astronomy",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "higher-dimensional space"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "physical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "cosmology",
        "astronomy",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "many-worlds"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "physical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "cosmology",
        "astronomy",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "superspace"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "alternative universes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "alternate universe",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "alternative universe (plural alternative universes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "allohistory"
    },
    {
      "word": "alternative history"
    },
    {
      "word": "counterfactual"
    },
    {
      "word": "darkest timeline"
    },
    {
      "word": "worst timeline"
    },
    {
      "word": "mirror universe"
    },
    {
      "word": "retrofuture"
    }
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      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Cosmology",
        "en:Physics"
      ],
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              326,
              346
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 June 21, Bernard Carr, editor, Universe Or Multiverse?, page 367:",
          "text": "In particular, it has been argued that if any of six (or perhaps a few more) numbers did not have rather particular values, then life as we know it would not be possible; atoms would not exist, or no grativationally bound structures would form in the Universe, or some other calamity would occur that would appear to make the alternative universe a very dull and lifeless place. How, then, did we get so lucky as to be here?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hypothetical world situated in a different dimension of space and time than the real world consisting of the universe known and experienced by human beings."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "physics",
          "physics"
        ],
        [
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        [
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        [
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        [
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        ],
        [
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          "dimension"
        ],
        [
          "space",
          "space"
        ],
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "know",
          "know"
        ],
        [
          "experience",
          "experience"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(physics, cosmology) A hypothetical world situated in a different dimension of space and time than the real world consisting of the universe known and experienced by human beings."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "astronomy",
        "cosmology",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "physics"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Literature",
        "en:Narratology"
      ],
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              143,
              163
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 June 13, S. Sayyid, Recalling the Caliphate – Decolonization and World Order:",
          "text": "This mirroring was marked out by the way in which the Federation of Planets, a voluntary association of different worlds, never existed in the alternative universe; instead we find ourselves confronting a vicious militaristic Terran empire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An imaginary realm, often a variant form of the real world or of the fictional universe usually depicted in a work, depicting a different way events could have unfolded or the universe could have functioned."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "literature",
          "literature"
        ],
        [
          "narratology",
          "narratology"
        ],
        [
          "imaginary",
          "imaginary"
        ],
        [
          "realm",
          "realm"
        ],
        [
          "variant",
          "variant"
        ],
        [
          "form",
          "form"
        ],
        [
          "way",
          "way"
        ],
        [
          "unfold",
          "unfold"
        ],
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literature, narratology) An imaginary realm, often a variant form of the real world or of the fictional universe usually depicted in a work, depicting a different way events could have unfolded or the universe could have functioned."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "narratology",
        "publishing",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "alternative dimension"
    },
    {
      "word": "parallel dimension"
    },
    {
      "word": "parallel universe"
    },
    {
      "sense": "narrative setting",
      "word": "alternative world"
    },
    {
      "sense": "narrative setting",
      "word": "heterocosm"
    },
    {
      "sense": "narrative setting",
      "word": "parallel world"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "imaginary realm in literature",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "universo alternativo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "alternative universe"
}

Download raw JSONL data for alternative universe meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). 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.