alternate timeline
Different historical branch
An alternate timeline is a hypothetical version of history where events unfolded differently from what actually occurred.
The concept appears in science fiction, historical speculation, and theoretical physics: In one alternate timeline, the South won the Civil War.
Characters might travel between alternate timelines or discover that their reality diverged from another at some critical moment.
The phrase also describes counterfactual thinking about personal choices: In an alternate timeline, I took that job in Seattle.
- parallel universeHypothetical coexisting separate reality
- divergenceSeparation from common origin
- branchingSplitting into separate directions
- branching pathRoute that divides
- what ifWords introducing a hypothesis
multiverse · butterfly effect · paradox · fixed point · fork · split · counterfactual · rewritten · quantum · sliding doors · dimension · reset · undo · crossroads · road not taken · ripple · causality · causal loop
- Back to the FutureDeLorean, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, flux capacitor, time machine
- Alternate Historycounterfactual, point of departure, what-if, what if scenario, hypothetical scenario
- fan theoriessimulation theory, multiverse theory, secret identity, hidden villain, brainwashing
- narrative techniquesflashback, nonlinear plot, fragmented narrative, flash-forward, point of view
- other realmsotherworld, netherworld, spirit world, shadow realm, dream realm
- time traveltime machine, time loop, time jump, time slip, causal loop
alternate, alternately, alternation, alternating, alternator, alternative, alternatively, alter, alteration