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utopia

u·to·pi·a [ yoo tṓpee ə ] (plural u·to·pi·as) or U·to·pi·a [ yoo tṓpee ə ] (plural U·to·pi·as)

noun

Definition:

ideal and perfect state: an ideal and perfect place or state where everyone lives in harmony and everything is for the best

[Mid-16th century. < modern Latin, literally "noplace," first used in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516) < Greek ou "not" + topos "place"]

Cultural Note


	Utopia, a philosophical treatise (1516) by English writer and statesman Sir Thomas More. It contrasts the moral decadence and disunity of contemporary Christian Europe with the tolerance and prosperity of More's imaginary ideal state of Utopia, which is run on secular, communist principles. The term utopia has spawned a number of derivatives, for example, utopian, utopianism, and utopianist.

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