The word dystopia has appeared in 75 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 10 in the book review “Which Is More Terrifying: Nature or Other People?” by Nicole Flattery:
In Ray Nayler’s exceedingly ambitious THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SEA (456 pp., Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28), another kind of orphan attempts to unravel the mystery of their existence — and also, with more difficulty, that of all life on earth. Evrim is an android whose job is to aid Dr. Ha Nguyen, a marine biologist, in the search for a society of octopuses in Vietnam’s Con Dao archipelago that are exhibiting signs of extraordinary intelligence. In this unsettlingly relatable world, DIANIMA, an international tech company attempting to capitalize on Nguyen’s research, stands in for, well, all rapacious tech companies. The dystopia Nayler captures is resolutely believable: Poorly paid workers with no time for real attachments are in “pseudo-relationships” with computer-generated “constructs” who become humans’ reflections without the challenges or rewards of actual intimacy; megalomaniacs cheerfully colonize every corner of the world; and technological advances are relentlessly pursued without any thought of the human consequences.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word dystopia in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how dystopia can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.
