fictive
Born from imagination
Fictive means pertaining to fiction or the imagination—created rather than real.
A fictive narrative is invented, not factual.
Fictive kin are people treated as family though not related by blood or marriage.
The word overlaps with fictional but carries a slightly more literary or technical tone, appearing often in discussions of storytelling and anthropology.
Invented, not real
- inventedCreated something new
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
- manufacturedMade by machinery
- artificialMade, not natural
simulated · crafted · devised · concocted · made-up · feigned · pretend · hypothetical
Not matching reality
- fakeNot the real thing
- phonyFraudulent person or thing
- bogusCounterfeit or fraudulent
- spuriousFalse though appearing genuine
fraudulent · sham · pseudo · forged · counterfeit · apocryphal · misleading · dishonest
Faculty for forming ideas
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- inventionNew device or method
- daydreamConscious fantasy while awake
- reverieAbstracted, pleasant daydream
chimera · vision · dream · fancy · phantasy · make-believe · conjured · envisioned
Account of events
- protagonistStory's central figure
- antagonistOne who opposes another
- narratorOne who tells events
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
plot · characters · fable · myth · legend · folklore · allegory · parable
fabricated
Invented, not real
- inventedCreated something new
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
- manufacturedMade by machinery
artificial · simulated · crafted · devised · concocted · made-up · feigned · pretend · hypothetical · notional
false
Not matching reality
spurious · fraudulent · sham · pseudo · forged · counterfeit · apocryphal · misleading · dishonest · falsified
imagination
Faculty for forming ideas
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- inventionNew device or method
- daydreamConscious fantasy while awake
reverie · chimera · vision · dream · fancy · phantasy · make-believe · conjured · envisioned · conceived
narrative
Account of events
- protagonistStory's central figure
- antagonistOne who opposes another
- narratorOne who tells events
storytelling · plot · characters · fable · myth · legend · folklore · allegory · parable · tale
- unreal thingsillusion, delusion, fantasy, imaginary, fake
- imaginary stylesimaginary, fantasy, fantastical, dreamlike, dreamy
- Dissociationdissociation, depersonalization, derealization, multiple personality disorder, alter
fictivedocumentary
Factual film about reality
nonfictional · historical · journalistic · reportorial · uncreative
- science fictionSpeculative fiction with technological themes
- fan fictionStories borrowing existing characters
- realistic fictionInvented yet plausible storytelling
- fictional characterImaginary person in stories
- horror fictionWriting intended to terrify
- historical fictionNovels set in actual pasts
fiction, fictional, fictitious, nonfiction, science fiction, fictionalized, fictionalize, historical fiction, nonfictional