Word.ws English Dictionary

expanded universe

expanded universe noun: in fiction, the extension of a media franchise (i.e. a television show, series of feature films, etc.) with other media (generally comics and original novels), often with the result being that the stories described in the other media are not considered canon in the original.

Noun

expanded universe (plural expanded universes)

  1. In fiction, the extension of a media franchise (i.e. a television show, series of feature films, etc.) with other media (generally comics and original novels), often with the result being that the stories described in the other media are not considered canon in the original.
    • The Star Wars novels, comics, video games, television series, and radio shows created between 1977 and 2012 all constitute an original Expanded Universe (EU) of in-universe history and lore set within the same transmedia franchise.2019, Monica Louzon, “Mara Jade, Frontier Woman”, in Melanie A. Marotta, editor, Women's Space, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 29

Forms of expanded universe

pluralexpanded universes

Questions about expanded universe

What does expanded universe mean?
Expanded universe means in fiction, the extension of a media franchise (i.e. a television show, series of feature films, etc.) with other media (generally comics and original novels), often with the result being that the stories described in the other media are not considered canon in the original.
What part of speech is expanded universe?
Expanded universe is a noun.
What is the plural of expanded universe?
The plural of expanded universe is expanded universes.

Words near expanded universe in the dictionary

  1. expanded forms
  2. expanded memory
  3. expanded metal
  4. expanded one's wings
  5. expanded rubber
  6. expanded universe
  7. expanded universes
  8. expandedly
  9. expandedness
  10. expandedst
  11. expander

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: expanded universe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “expanded universe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/expanded_universe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.