In the beginning, there were 75 words every sci-fi fan should know. Then we saw fit to add another 25 shortly thereafter, and then yet 30 more examples of spec-fic slang. Today, our grand total of documented dorktacular terms and phrases reaches 170, as we’ve got the next 40 science-fiction terms every geek needs to know.

  1. astrobiology (n.)
  2. astrochicken (n.)
  3. Big Brother (n.)
  4. biohacker (n.)
  5. changeling (n.)
  6. chthonic (adj.)
  7. cosplay (n.)
  8. cryonics (n.)
  9. cyberware (n.)
  10. Drake Equation (n.)
  11. Edisonade (n.)
  12. event horizon (n.)
  13. exobiology (n.)
  14. exoplanet (n.)
  15. expospeak (n.)
  16. fanboy (n.)
  17. Fermi’s paradox (n.)
  18. first contact (n.)
  19. gengineering (n.)
  20. handwaving (n.)
  21. heuristic (adj.)
  22. Hollow Earth (n.)
  23. infodump (n.)
  24. jump drive (n.)
  25. jump gate (n.)
  26. Kardashev scale (n.)
  27. Mary Sue (adj.)
  28. megacorp (n.)
  29. multiverse (n.)
  30. panopticon (n.)
  31. Penrose process (n.)
  32. postcyberpunk (adj.)
  33. psionics (n.)
  34. railgun (n.)
  35. retcon (v.)
  36. retrocognition (n.)
  37. scry (v.)
  38. sword-and-planet (adj.)
  39. technocracy (n.)
  40. technopathy (n.)

Think we’ve missed some? Let us know.

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