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- Dictionaryutopia/juːˈtəʊpɪə/
noun
- 1. an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect: "misplaced faith in political utopias has led to ruin"
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Utopia is a noun that means a perfect society in which people work well with each other and are happy. Learn more about the origin, usage and synonyms of utopia from Cambridge Dictionary, with examples from the English Corpus.
Utopia is a word that can refer to an imaginary and ideal place, a scheme for social improvement, or a book by Sir Thomas More. Learn the origin, synonyms, examples, and history of utopia from Merriam-Webster.
Utopia is an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. The word was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, which describes a fictional island society in the New World.
- Overview
- More’s Utopia
- Speculative and practical utopias
utopia, an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under seemingly perfect conditions. Hence utopian and utopianism are words used to denote visionary reform that tends to be impossibly idealistic.
The word first occurred in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, published in Latin as Libellus…de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia (1516; “Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia”); it was compounded by More from the Greek words for “not” (ou) and “place” (topos) and thus meant “nowhere.” During his embassy to ...
Written utopias may be speculative, practical, or satirical. Utopias are far older than their name. Plato’s Republic was the model of many, from More to H.G. Wells. A utopian island occurs in the Hiera anagraphe (“Sacred Inscription”) of Euhemerus (flourished c. 300 bce), and Plutarch (46–after 119 ce), in his life of Lycurgus, describes a utopian Sparta. The legend of Atlantis inspired many utopian myths, but explorations in the 15th century permitted more realistic settings, and More himself associated Utopia with Amerigo Vespucci. Other utopias that were similar to More’s in humanist themes were the I mondi (1552) of Antonio Francesco Doni and La città felice (1553) of Francesco Patrizi. An early practical utopia was the comprehensive La città del sole (c. 1602; “The City of the Sun”) of Tommaso Campanella. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis (1627) was practical in its scientific program but speculative concerning philosophy and religion. Christian utopian commonwealths were described in Antangil (1616) by “I.D.M.,” Christianopolis (1619) by Johann Valentin Andreae, and Novae Solymae libri sex (1648) by Samuel Gott. Puritanism produced many literary utopias, both religious and secular, notably The Law of Freedom… (1652), in which Gerrard Winstanley advocated the principles of the Diggers. The Common-Wealth of Oceana (1656) by James Harrington argued for the distribution of land as the condition of popular independence.
In France such works as Gabriel de Foigny’s Terre australe connue (1676) preached liberty. François Fénelon’s Télémaque (1699) contained utopian episodes extolling the simple life. L’An 2440 by Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1770; Eng. trans., 1772) anticipated Revolutionary doctrines. G.A. Ellis’s New Britain (1820) and Étienne Cabet’s Voyage en Icarie (1840) were related to experimental communities in the United States that revealed the limitations of purely economic planning. Consequently, Bulwer-Lytton, in The Coming Race (1871), invented an essence that eliminated economics altogether, and William Morris demonstrated his contempt for economics in News from Nowhere (1890). Two influential utopias, however, had an economic basis: Looking Backward, 2000–1887 (1888) by Edward Bellamy and Freiland (1890; A Visit to Freeland…) by Theodor Herzka. H.G. Wells, in A Modern Utopia (1905), returned to speculation.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Utopia is an imaginary or hypothetical place, system, or state of perfection, often in contrast to the real world. Learn the origin, history, and usage of the word from the Oxford English Dictionary, with citations and etymology.
Utopia is a noun that means a perfect society in which people work well with each other and are happy. Learn more about the origin, usage and synonyms of utopia from Cambridge Dictionary, with examples from various sources.
Utopia is an imaginary or ideal place or state, often used to describe a perfect society or political system. Learn the origin, history, and usage of the word utopia, and see examples and synonyms.
