Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Fast-paced science fiction involving futuristic computer-based societies.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun science fiction, uncountable A subgenre of science fiction which focuses on computer or information technology and virtual reality.
  • noun countable A cyberpunk character, a hacker punk, a high-tech low life.
  • noun countable A writer of cyberpunk fiction.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a programmer who breaks into computer systems in order to steal or change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism
  • noun a writer of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology
  • noun a genre of fast-paced science fiction involving oppressive futuristic computerized societies

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

cyber- +‎ punk, coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of a 1983 short story.

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Examples

  • Well, Miracle Man predated the term cyberpunk and the Wachowskis demonstrated their interest in Moore with their interest in adapting V for Vendetta beginning in the early 1990s.

    Top 100 Comic Book Runs #40-36 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008

  • I was working my way through Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash when I started to think about the role of techno-jargon in cyberpunk books, especially William Gibson's and Stephenson's work.

    EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Gord Sellar 2010

  • The cyberpunk is usually an outsider * not* of his/her own choosing, but because the structure of society is inherently unfair and favors the rich (who usually have to intentionally buy into or perpetrate the evils of society to get that way, ala the Bush Administration or, well, the 80s, when the genre was at its height.)

    Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2009

  • Anyone who has read my articles knows that, with the exception of specific authors (Pat Murphy, Melissa Scott, Richard Morgan), cyberpunk is not the lime in my gin-and-tonic.

    [GUEST REVIEW] Athena Andreadis Reviews Shine: An Anthology of Near-Future Optimistic Science Fiction, edited by Jetse de Vries 2010

  • When I read about this the phrase cyberpunk thrilled me so much that I avoided reading any so that I could just mentally riff on the concept -- here's some of what I came up with.

    Archive 2009-04-05 Sean Craven 2009

  • When I read about this the phrase cyberpunk thrilled me so much that I avoided reading any so that I could just mentally riff on the concept -- here's some of what I came up with.

    I Really Shouldn't Do This: The Guardian's Science Fiction And Fantasy Novel List Sean Craven 2009

  • Interesting thing from a posting in cyberpunk - First piercing-type thing I'm vaguely willing to do - given my usual opinion of "If I get anything like that done it'll be augumentation not ornamentation", this is a darn cool thing.

    December 16th, 2004 2004

  • To me, cyberpunk is a genre that explores the interaction of technology and man (in the generic sense of the word) in a not so distant future.

    stonetable.org » Cyberpunk 2003

  • According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, cyberpunk is a “term used to describe a school of sf writing that developed and became popular during the 1980s.”

    stonetable.org » Cyberpunk 2003

  • According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, cyberpunk is a “term used to describe a school of sf writing that developed and became popular during the 1980s.”

    stonetable.org » 2003 » April 2003

Comments

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  • "Term used to describe a school of SF writing that developed and became popular during the 1980s. The word was almost certainly coined by Bruce Bethke in his story 'Cyberpunk' (1983, AMZ)...

    The 'cyber' part of the word relates to cybernetics: to a future where industrial and political blocs may be global (or centred in space habitats) rather than national, and controlled through information netowrks." --Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 288.

    March 30, 2009

  • A bad guy

    March 30, 2009