primary world
primary world noun: the real world of the reader or viewer, as opposed to the imaginary "secondary world" of a work of fiction.
Noun
primary world (plural primary worlds)
- The real world of the reader or viewer, as opposed to the imaginary "secondary world" of a work of fiction.
- What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful 'sub-creator'. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief...1947, J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories”, in Essays Presented to Charles Williams, page 60
- Now, this secondary world can be made to stand entirely on its own, so that there is no primary world in the fiction and the only reference points to the real world are those the reader brings with him or forges for himself. This is generally the case with what is commonly called "high" fantasy...1982, Frederick M. Burelbach, “An Introduction to Naming in the Literature of Fantasy”, in Literary Onomastics Studies, volume 9, number 11, archived from the original on 16 May 2021, page 132
Examples of primary world in a sentence
- You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside.1947, J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories”, in Essays Presented to Charles Williams, page 60:
- One classification divides fantasy into two major types:¶ low fantasy, which takes place in the primary world (our world);¶ high fantasy, which takes place in alternative worlds.2008, Nikki Gamble, Sally Yates, “Fantasy and Realism”, in Exploring Children's Literature, →ISBN, page 120:
Antonyms of primary world
- fantasy world
- imaginary world
- secondary world
Forms of primary world
| plural | primary worlds |
|---|
Origin of primary world
Coined by J. R. R. Tolkien in his 1947 essay "On Fairy-Stories".
Questions about primary world
- What does primary world mean?
- Primary world means the real world of the reader or viewer, as opposed to the imaginary "secondary world" of a work of fiction.
- How do you use primary world in a sentence?
- You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside.
- What part of speech is primary world?
- Primary world is a noun.
- What is the plural of primary world?
- The plural of primary world is primary worlds.
Words near primary world in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: primary world (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “primary world.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/primary_world. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.